One Hit Ninja
by Redyoshi14
Summary: There's something to be said about being too strong. Once you have the ability to do anything you want, you find that you don't really want to do anything.
1. Chapter 1

_**Greetings again everyone! It's me! That guy! First off, an announcement!**_

 _ **IF YOU ARE HERE TO READ SOMETHING SIMILAR TO** __That One Naruto Time Travel Thing **THEN BE WARNED THAT THIS WON'T BE ALONG THE SAME LINES.**  
_

 _ **I wrote that fic as something of a joke. I got to just write randomly whatever I wanted, and it was fun. But the plot holes were glaring and kind of a mess. Will I write something like that again? Yes. Yes I will. Soon. This, however, will not be that fic. This fic will have comedy (as all of my fics do) but it will not be randomness and stupidity.**_

 _ **For those of you concerned, however, this will also most likely be the most serious chapter.**_

 _ **I hope those of you who consider yourselves my fans enjoy my new story. Please read and review and tell me how you like it.**_

 _ **The purely comedic fic will come out shortly. Trust me.**_

 _ **This will somewhat be Godlike! Naruto, but not really? Like Saitama of** **One Punch Man** **he won't be too inclined to use his powers.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

 _There's something to be said about being too strong. Once you have the ability to do anything you want, you find that you don't really want to do anything._

Naruto was never what you would call "smart". He didn't pick up on things as easily as the other students in his school. His teachers would often have to explain things to him in a unique way as to make it entertain him. Most of the time they failed, and so Naruto never really kept pace with his fellow students. As such, even though he was several years younger than them, Naruto would have to keep his head down as he watched his fellow classmates graduate without him.

"Dad, I just want to say goodbye!" a young girl with blonde hair yelled. She had the prettiest blue eyes that Naruto had ever seen. His own were blue, and much brighter, but Naruto had never found the same joy in looking at his own eyes.

"No," her father responded. His eyes, blue like the young girl's, were mean. They were hard, and sharp like knives. It hurt Naruto to look into them, so he looked away. He could still hear the man, though. He wasn't that far away from where all the graduated students were being held. "That boy is a… he's a monster."

"Little Naruto?" the girl asked. Her name was Aiko. Naruto made sure to remember that her name was spelled with an "Ai". "Little Naruto couldn't harm a fly. He can't even learn the Clone Technique."

Naruto couldn't see the man, but he could feel the man's glare. The young blond boy scrunched his eyes shut and tried to ignore it, like he did in the village. It was harder now, though. Aiko was there. Aiko would be able to see that he was hated. Aiko would hate him too.

"I don't care what you say, Dad. I'm going to say bye to Little Naruto. I'm not going to be in the Academy anymore and there won't be anyone to look after him."

Naruto heard the grass crunch. There was a lot of grass in the schoolyard, and the wildest of it grew near the old swing set where the blond boy currently sat. To be honest, it wasn't a swing set so much as a wooden plank tied up with rope to a tree branch. It was the only swing on the yard, though. It was where Naruto felt he could be comfortably alone.

He used to play with kids on this swing. They would stop playing when they learned the cool ninja Techniques. Somehow being able to walk on walls and turn into other things was _way_ more fun than a stupid old swing. Naruto tried to learn those Techniques too. He hadn't succeeded yet.

"Listen, Aiko. I told you to leave the boy alone. You will do as I say!" the father hissed. The ground near the unruly grass crunched and whined. Naruto could tell there was a scuffle going on. He didn't dare look up, though.

"Dad, stop! You're hurting me…" Naruto's heart hurt. His chest hurt and clenched when he heard Aiko's voice sound so afraid. She was always so happy and cheerful. Was this how she acted with her parents? Were parents like this to their children?

"Hey, you leave her alone, you big jerk!" a crass voice called out. Naruto recognized that voice. It was Kiban, the biggest boy in their class. Kiban had really wild hair that looked scruffy no matter how he tried to comb it. His teeth, specifically his canines, and his nails were always so sharp; his eyes were also so fierce, it always looked like he wanted to fight. Because of this he was the "bully" of the school. No one ever challenged him and everyone did as he said.

He never told Naruto what to do, though. Kiban was always nice to Naruto. He was always nice to Aiko, too. Naruto often wondered if the two facts were related.

Aiko's father grunted. "Back off, boy. I am her father. I can tell her whatever I want."

"Why, you…" Kiban growled. That was another weird thing about Kiban. He growled when he was angry. He was like a dog. "I oughtta…"

"You ought to what, exactly?" Aiko's dad asked. There was a challenging tone in his voice, and for a second Naruto was afraid that Kiban would fight Aiko's dad. Kiban was good, and strong, but he wasn't as big as Aiko's dad. Finally, Naruto decided to look up, and was immediately relieved.

"He ought to do nothing," a woman responded. She looked an awful lot like Kiban, except much wilder. And bigger. Especially around the chest. She placed a hand on Kiban's head and ruffled his hair. "Kiban, didn't I tell you not to mess with these Yamanaka folk? Their heads are all messed up from messing with other people's heads."

Aiko's father didn't look pleased. His mouth twisted and for a second Naruto thought he looked like a demon. He closed his eyes, and then breathed in and out very slowly. Finally, after a couple seconds, Aiko's dad opened his eyes and glared at the woman behind Kiban.

"Insults and vulgarity from an Inuzuka. Why am I not surprised?"

"Because all you headhunters do is spy on people. I wouldn't be surprised if you knew what color panties I were wearing right now."

"Knowing you savages," Aiko's father started with a sneer, "you probably aren't wearing any."

"See?" Kiban's sister chirped. "Peeping perverts, the lot of you. Right on target, ace."

Aiko's father gasped. He looked affronted. Shaking his head, he placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and made to pull her away. "Come, Aiko. You don't need to be in this cesspool of depravity any longer."

Kiban's sister laughed. "Those are an awful lot of hundren yen words for a degenerate pervert." Aiko's dad stiffened, but he didn't turn around to respond. He kept pulling Aiko away. This made Kiban's sister laugh even harder. "C'mon Kiban. Let's get out of here."

With that, Kiban turned to follow his sister off the school grounds. As Aiko and Kiban were pulled in opposite directions, Naruto couldn't help but notice the way they looked back at each other. Though he couldn't tell why, the way that they looked at each other made Naruto's chest hurt even more.

"I hope I'm on your team, Aiko!" Kiban called across the school ground. Aiko didn't say anything, but she did turn around. The tears in her eyes reflected the afternoon sun, but they did nothing to dim the smile she had on her face.

She nodded so hard that Naruto thought her head would fall off. Apparently that was enough for Kiban, because he flashed a toothy sharp smile and nodded back. Aiko and her father disappeared from the school grounds shortly afterwards. Seeing one of his only friends gone, Naruto had made to putting his head back down.

"No, wait Big Sis. There's someone I have to talk to first."

Before he could notice, Kiban was standing before him on the swing. Normally Naruto would be able to hear the grass crunching and tell when someone was coming. This day was really weighing down on him if the loud Kiban could sneak up on him.

"I know you don't talk, much." Kiban started. He was always so blunt. "So you don't have to say nothing. I'll just talk, okay?"

Naruto nodded. This was standard practice between them.

"I never really liked you, Naruto," Kiban said. Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't do anything else. It wasn't surprising, but typical. No one really liked him. "But you always hung onto Aiko. I couldn't be her friend without being yours too."

Naruto nodded. He had expected as much. He was a slow learner for school stuff, but he could read people pretty easily. They either hated you or pretended that they didn't.

Or they were Aiko, but Aiko was gone now.

"But, over time, you grew on me." Naruto, who had been expecting to be chewed out, looked up at Kiban. Now that had surprised him. "I mean, you're just a little kid, right? But everyone is always so hard on you. The big dogs in my house weren't even that hard on me when I was your age, and they were hard on everyone."

Not knowing what to say, Naruto just stared.

"I'm not good with words," Kiban continued, "so I'll just say it. I like your guts, Little Naruto. I started protecting you cause it made Aiko happy, but after a while I just couldn't stand other people making things harder for you than they already were." Kiban then went silent. He appeared to be choosing his words carefully.

"Listen, I won't be here any longer, but you will be. You have to be strong. Don't let them bully you, okay?" Naruto nodded. They would be bullying him just about as soon as Kiban left, but the scruffy boy didn't need to know that. "I will be a strong ninja, the strongest! I'll become the Hokage, then I'll come back for you, okay? Can you wait for me?"

Naruto nodded. That would be a very long time. He would be kicked out of the Academy if he failed again. He would probably be gone before Kiban even made it to Chuunin rank.

"Then this isn't goodbye, okay Little Naruto?" Kiban held out a fist. "See you later."

Naruto smiled. It wasn't his real smile, but he had to fool Kiban. "See you later," the blond said. Kiban smiled and nodded.

Then he was gone, and Naruto was alone on the school swing once more. He heard the remaining graduates and their parents as they whispered at him. The words didn't hurt, but they weren't nice to listen to either. With a huff, Naruto rose from his seat on the swing and walked away from the Academy.

There was no reason for him to be here anymore.

XxX

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was the biggest city in the Land of Fire. The Land of Fire was the biggest country in the Elemental Nations. The Elemental Nations was the biggest empire in the world.

Yet, for all of that, it hardly ever rained where Naruto lived. Yet today, like some kind of divine joke, it started to rain in the Village Hidden in the Leaves: the driest city in the Land of Fire. The Land of Fire was the driest country in the Elemental Nations, and so on.

Naruto found himself where he usually did whenever something happened that was beyond his control. He was alone beneath a tree watching the rain slide down the leaves above him on down to the ground. This tree was on the outskirts of the city, but not quite outside of its boundaries. It sat on a tall hill just far enough away from the buildings that Naruto could see over pretty much the entire Village.

The Academy, which was pretty close to the Monument, was a sight he avoided. The Monument, however, was not. It was a large, overbearing quartet of faces that overlooked the Village. Borne into the cliff that the village was situated under, it sported the stern faces of the Four Previous Hokage.

Naruto liked the Fourth Hokage the best. He looked like a hero. Would Kiban be up there one day, too? Naruto shrugged. The Hokage were none of his business. It's not like they had any real bearing on his life.

Instead Naruto let his eyes rove over the various buildings in the Village. Some were tall, like the Hokage Tower that dominated the center of the town. Others were small, like the post office where all the carrier doves flew, or the weapons shop that allowed him to take home some shuriken to practice with.

The girl there, her name was Tenten, had really pretty hair. She always smiled at him when he came in and sometimes gave him candy. Naruto loved going there, but with Tenten going to the Academy too, he never had enough time to spend with her. Her father obliged when he could, but he had a shop to run, so Naruto made sure not to disturb them too often.

No, the favorite small shop that the young blond liked to visit was definitely the Ramen Shop. Naruto couldn't pronounce the name of the shop yet, but he knew where to find it in the Village. Even though it was small, maybe the smallest of all the buildings in the village, it gave off this warmth that was hard to replace. The owners were these two nice people, a father and daughter. Whenever he went there they would smile at him and give him food.

Sometimes it would be all that he ate.

Naruto had wanted to go there to eat after school. He had wandered too much, however, and by the time that he realized that he was near the edge of the village it had started to rain. He couldn't run through the rain, not without getting absolutely wet. He didn't have a dryer, so he would be wet all night. He didn't want to catch a cold.

Naruto held out a hand into the rain. The droplets fell onto his fingertips hard and fast. It didn't rain often in The VIllage Hidden in the Leaves, but when it did, it rained hard. It had been raining for almost an hour now, and it didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Naruto would miss the Ramen Shop today. He would have to eat tomorrow.

With a sigh, the young blond boy sat with his back against the tree. His stomach growled at him, but he closed his eyes and drowned out his hunger with the rhythmic pitter patter of the rain. It worked, well almost worked, and for a while Naruto thought that he could sleep there.

Then a voice called out to him.

" **You're a pathetic runt** ," the voice said. It was deep, but oddly smooth. The baritone voice wasn't particularly loud, but it drowned out the din of the rain. " **I was hoping that you would be more impressive by the time that I woke up. I can't say I'm particularly disappointed. You humans never live up to expectations**."

Naruto, rather than be offended, simply tilted his head. He looked around himself, head darting left and right in order to find the person speaking to him. He saw no one under the tree but him, so he started looking over the village again.

" **You're not going to find me** ," the voice said. Naruto looked around again. " **I just said that you won't find me**."

Rather than keep looking around, Naruto shrugged and sat back down.

" **You go along with the flow too often, child** ," the voice said. " **I was expecting some resistance. Your kind is typically confrontational.** "

Naruto shrugged again. He started to play with the dirt under his sandals.

" **No one else is here. You can talk**."

"Dun wanna," Naruto finally responded. Naruto wasn't sure how, but he could feel the voice's glee.

" **Oh, so you** _ **can**_ **talk? Why don't you wanna?** "

Naruto, instead of responding again, just shrugged his shoulders.

" **Killjoy** ," the voice mumbled. " **You'll talk to me eventually**."

"Maybe," Naruto responded. He waited for a bit, but whoever it was that was talking to him wasn't talking anymore. Had he gone away? Probably. He seemed eager to talk to Naruto, but he wasn't Aiko, which meant that he was only pretending to like him.

Naruto hated those kinds of people the most.

With a sigh, Naruto stood up and walked out into the rain. It was still pouring hard, but staying here wasn't going to solve anything either. If he ran fast enough, maybe he could get back to his apartment.

Overhead, lightning lit up the sky.

XxX

When it rained in the Hidden Leaf, it was a solemn affair. Too used to the dry conditions, the people of Fire Country usually didn't have emergency conditions for a sudden downpour. As such, the streets were now empty. All of the citizens of the Hidden Leaf were now sequestered away inside some house or store and waiting out the storm.

Everyone, of course, except for Naruto.

The blond boy was walking rapidly through the streets. His orange shirt was soaked through, and so was his pants. His sandals made a _plop plop plop_ sound as he rushed onward past roads and roads. His normally spiky hair was now matted down onto his head, and every inch of his body glistened from rainwater.

Naruto's face was deadpan. It was usually deadpan, but now it showed just a bit of discomfort.

"Stupid rain," Naruto mumbled. A barking sound echoed in his ears.

" **Tell me about it**."

Like each time the voice had done so before, Naruto ignored the voice's provocation. He wasn't sure where exactly the voice was to be able to be heard so clearly in this rain on this empty street, but he would ignore it. It would go away eventually.

" **I'm not going anywhere, brat. Even if I could, you're the only brat in this hellhole worth talking to**."

Naruto decided to ignore the voice. Turning a corner, the boy saw his apartment building up ahead. Finding renewed energy, the boy ran the last couple yards to his front door. He took the stairs two at a time, before darting down the hall. When he came to his door, he pulled out his keys and fumbled with the lock.

After a bit of fumbling, Naruto realized that his key wasn't fitting. Very faintly, both through walls and over the patter of the rain, the sound of his grouchy landlord cackling could be heard. She had changed his locks once more, and he would have to wait until the rain let up before he would even try to brave the way all the way to the Hokage Tower.

He was dripping rainwater onto the walkway floors. It was an outside walkway too, so it was cold too. Bracing his back against the door. Naruto felt himself get sleepy.

" **Brat, don't go to sleep** ," the voice said. Naruto wanted to look for it, he did, but he was just so tired. Maybe he could just close his eyes for a second?

" **Brat** ," the voice continued. It sounded like it was panicking. " **I just told you not to go to sleep. You were out in the rain too long. Can't you feel yourself shivering?** "

He couldn't. Actually, he couldn't feel anything at all. Except sleepy. He felt extremely sleepy. Against his will his eyes began to droop.

" **Brat!** " the voice yelled. " **Keep your damn eyes open!** "

Naruto didn't respond, not even with his thoughts. His eyes drifted closed, and he felt the tranquility of sleep wash over his body.

Then he felt blinding, overwhelming pain. Naruto screamed as something akin to lava bubbled all over his skin.

" **I told you to stay awake, brat!** " the voice said. " **Look what you made me do!** "

Naruto could indeed look at what was happening. Some weird, red liquid was bubbling out of his skin. It looked like a combination of some kind of jelly and water. It bubbled every so often, and every inch of it that touched him both burned and stung him.

" **Force it down, boy!** " the voice yelled. Naruto didn't know who it was, but he seemed concerned. Wasn't he the one to do this to him? " **Don't question things! Just force the chakra back down!** "

So that's what this is? Chakra? Wasn't chakra supposed to be warm and comforting? This chakra felt unbearably hot and painful.

" **Listen brat, if you don't stop questioning things you're going to** _ **die**_ **. Just ignore the pain and push the chakra back!** "

Ignore the pain? He was ten years old!

" **I don't care! Push it back! You can do it!** "

It hurt.

" **Not as much as its going to hurt when you** _ **die**_."

Did things still hurt after death?

" **I don't know? Maybe? Stop distracting me and** _ **push**_ **.** "

Naruto screamed. The red chakra was peeling away at his skin.

" **Okay,** " the voice pleaded. " **Maybe you don't know how to push chakra. I understand. This is your first time experiencing chakra. That's not your fault. I'm going to try something, okay? I want you to play close attention**."

Naruto screamed once more. There was a bestial quality to it.

" **Okay, maybe try to do it through the pain.** "

Naruto grit his teeth. The pain had by now spread over almost his entire body. It stretched over his entire body like a second skin, and soon he was expecting the lava-like chakra to engulf his head as well. Just as it reached his neck, however, it stopped.

" **Kid** ," the voice gasped. It sounded to be in immense concentration. " **do you feel that? Do you feel what's happening to the chakra?** "

Naruto nodded. His throat was raspy from the screaming.

" **I'm pulling it. I don't have time to explain but that chakra belongs** _ **inside**_ **of you.** " The voice then hesitated. " **With me**."

The chakra belonged inside of him. Wait, the voice was inside of him?

" **Do you feel me pulling the chakra back in?** " Naruto nodded. " **I can't pull it back on my own. I'm going to need your help.** "

Naruto nodded again. He could feel the chakra pulling, and he tried to apply the sensation, but in reverse.

" **That's it** ," the voice cooed. " **I can feel the pull getting easier. Keep it up.** "

Naruto took a deep breath, then tried to latch onto the ethereal feeling of pain. Mentally he tried to will the pain down deeper, to a place under his skin. At first it was difficult, incomprehensibly so, but as he pushed it got easier.

" **That's it, boy. Keep it up.** "

Naruto did. He pushed and pushed, until he was sure that his mind was giving out. After a while the pain subsided, and Naruto reluctantly opened his eyes. The lava chakra was gone, and instead he was left with slightly burnt skin.

" **That was… interesting**." The voice said. " **Are you okay?** "

Naruto shook his head.

" **At least you're warm now**."

Naruto nodded.

" **Is that all I'm going to get out of you?** "

Naruto shrugged. The voice laughed.

" **I'll take it. For now, sleep. I'll make sure that you stay warm** "

Naruto nodded. His eyes slowly closed, willingly this time, and for the first time in a while the boy felt calm going to sleep.

After a few minutes passed, the landlady unbolted her door and peeked out. The screaming that she heard chilled her to her bones, and as curious as she was, she could not move. Frozen to her chair, the landlady waited until the screaming ended.

She waited for ten minutes.

Now that it was over, the lady snuck out to where she imagined the source to be, only to find the scourge of her life. That blonde brat was sleeping outside his door. From the looks of it, his skin was burned and charred in places. Was that why he was screaming? Because someone had burned him?

"Good for nothing runt," the woman grunted. She reached down to him, only for a bubbly red substance to jump out of the boy's skin and burn her. She recoiled, and almost made to scream, before she realized that the red stuff wasn't attacking her.

It was protecting the boy.

The woman, old by anyone's standards, looked at the boy with a soft eye. "We did this to you, didn't we?" She reached down once more only to see the bubbly red substance swipe at her. "We pushed you to rely on the demon. I am sorry, child."

The lady made her way around the boy, careful not to disturb him in any way. Upon reaching his door, she pulled out the newly made key from her robe pocket and unlocked the door. After pushing it open, the lady turned to look at Naruto again.

"You're just a boy. Or a demon. You could be either for all I know."

Naruto hadn't responded, but the chakra that surrounded him receded just a bit.

"I don't know," the woman sighed. "But for the sake of my humanity I'm going to trust that you're a boy, just this once."

She reached down to pick up Naruto once more and, reluctantly, the red substance let her. Struggling only a little, the old lady carried Naruto inside and dropped him on the ratty old sofa in his living room. She put the key on his kitchen counter on the way out, and stopped at the open door.

"I don't trust you, demon," the old landlady said. "You killed a whole bunch of my friends." She then looked down at her leg. Even now she walked on it with a limp. "You took away my ninja career." The lady then looked back at the sleeping blond boy. "And now you're taking the life of an innocent boy. Or what used to be a boy. I don't know. But I'm going to give you a chance."

The old lady then slowly closed the door.

"Please don't make me regret my decision."

The sleeping Naruto didn't answer, but the bubbly red chakra fully receded back into his body.

XxX

Naruto awoke with a start. He was inside his apartment again.

" **Are you awake, child**?"

Naruto didn't respond. Instead, he got up and stretched. Last he remembered he was locked out of his house again.

" **So we're doing the silent game again? That's fine. You were under a lot of stress last night, I understand**." The voice then yawned. " **Your new key is over there, by there way**."

Naruto, somehow knowing where the voice was indicating, looked over to his kitchen counter and saw his new key sitting there.

" **She delivered it last night after carrying you in here.** " The voice then went silent. " **She seems to think that I am you**."

"Who are you?" Naruto finally asked.

The voice was silent. It seemed to be thinking. Naruto didn't know how he knew that. " **She seemed to think that you are a monster that attacked the Village ten years ago**."

Naruto tilted his head. Something attacked the village ten years ago? Not drawing any answers, he walked into the kitchen. He pulled out the milk container and started drinking.

The voice grumbled. " **She seemed to think that you were the Nine-Tailed Fox**."

Naruto nodded. Everyone thought he was a monst-

The blond boy spit milk all over his floor.

"You're the Nine-Tailed Fox!" Naruto screamed.

" **So you** _ **can**_ **speak!** " the Fox yelled back. " **I was starting to think that you were a mute**!"

"You're the Nine-Tailed Fox!" Naruto repeated. The Fox scoffed.

" **Yes, I'm the Fox. Are you done, yet?** "

Naruto nodded. He hardly ever screamed, so doing so twice was enough to calm him down.

" **Good. Now let's get down to business**."

Naruto tilted his head.

" **We're going training. That last time was a full power chakra cloak, and we couldn't handle that. But** _ **because**_ **we went into using my chakra so fast, you are now more susceptible to it. I can even manifest a bit of it outside of your body now**." To prove its point, a tendril of chakra snaked out of Naruto's stomach. It waved at him before going back in. " **I can control that one, though. It won't hurt you unless you piss me off**."

Naruto made a note to never piss the fox off.

" **I can control that much, but if you pull on the chakra, even unconsciously, I won't be able to stop all of it from harming you from the seal**."

Naruto coughed.

" **I'm sealed inside of you**."

Naruto's eyes widened.

" **You are a creepy, expressionless little boy. You know that right**?" Naruto nodded. " **Oh well. We have to prevent you from harming yourself if you accidentally pull on my power again. You can't even call on your own chakra yet**."

Naruto nodded. The fox made sense.

" **We leave to train now**."

Naruto looked at his clock. It was Stupid O'Clock in the morning. Naruto shook his head rapidly.

" **Let's get going!** " a tendril of chakra burst out of Naruto's back and whipped him. Naruto squealed.

" **Go!** "

Naruto darted out the door. He grabbed his new key as an afterthought and scrambled out to the forest.

" **We're going to start with one hundred sit ups, one hundred pull ups, one hundred squats, and one hundred kilometers of running. We'll increase it as you get better**."

Naruto groaned. This was going to be a long week.

" **Week? This is going on until you can handle my chakra. Maybe afterwards. Now move!** " The fox then whipped him again for emphasis.

Naruto started running even faster. He ran past the landlady's door at speed. The old woman looked out her window.

"Shitty brat," the woman grunted. Regardless she had a smile on her face as she closed her door.

Little did anyone know that this was going to be the start of a reluctant legend.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Good afternoon, all! It's me part two! I'm here with the second chapter and I must say, this is quite a lot of attention for a first fic for me!**_

 _ **I'm happy you guys like it so far. Please, tell me how it is and what I'm doing right and wrong. We are all growing together here, and if I get better I can make a better story for you guys!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 **Rdyk**

* * *

Naruto plopped down in his chair. The Academy was never a favorite spot of his, and the seats were by far his least favorite part of it.

They were so damn uncomfortable.

" **You spend your days training nonstop in a forest and sleeping on rocks, yet a chair discomforts you**?" the voice in his head, the Nine-Tailed Fox, asked. Naruto nodded, though his head was still lying on the table. " **You're still a creepy little shit**." Naruto nodded again.

As per usual, Naruto was the first to arrive to class, though it was not for any particular reason. After training out in the various Training Grounds located all over the Hidden Leaf, he would fall asleep rather late and wake up rather early. There wasn't much to do other than clean up and head to school.

" **Could you at least endeavor yourself to remember their names this time?** " the Fox asked. Naruto shook his head.

This was actually Naruto's second year since he met the Fox. He had failed the Academy once more during that time. The Third Hokage had managed to convince the teachers to give him one more try.

Turns out that simply not showing up for class wasn't a good enough reason to bar him entry to being a ninja. The Third Hokage made him promise to show up to class this time. Naruto couldn't bring himself to deny the man.

" **You spent all of last year training. You're more than strong enough now to take care of yourself. Maybe you should focus on making friends**."

Naruto lifted his head. The classroom was still empty, so the blond boy had no problems with voicing his opinion. "You're a giant beast of pure malevolence. Why do you care if I make friends or not?"

The Fox grunted. " **It'd be an interesting change of pace. I'd like to see you squirm as you struggle to do the one thing that has always evaded you: successfully socializing with another human being**."

Naruto shrugged. "The kids here are all so boring."

" **How do you know that**?" The Fox asked. " **You haven't even met them yet.** "

"I met the kids last year," Naruto stated. "They were super boring."

" **Well, they might not be as bad this year. Just give them a chance**."

"No," Naruto said. He started to pout. "There are only two kinds of people in this world: those who hate you, and those who pretend that they don't." Naruto then hesitated. "And Aiko."

" **Every time you say that line, you mention this 'Aiko' person. Who is she**?" the Fox asked.

"None of your business," Naruto responded. He put his head down. The Fox scoffed. Whenever the boy got like this, he would stop talking altogether.

" **If it makes you feel any better** ," the Fox started, " **I'm only a part of the group that hates you**."

Naruto, despite his best efforts, smiled.

XxX

The first student strolled in only a half hour after Naruto did. They were still a half hour early for class. Naruto sat in a corner of the room at the back of the class. He was next to a window, so he could enjoy being as far away from public attention as possible.

The person chose the seat farthest away from him while still being near the back of the class. After choosing their seat, the person immediately followed suit and plopped their head down on the desk. Naruto recognized this person.

Too bad it didn't matter. Shikamaru Nara fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the table.

" **I remember the Naras**. **They're cheeky little shits. In the olden days of the Clan Wars, the Naras were hired almost as much as the Senju and those other people**." Naruto knew that the fox meant the 'Uchiha'. He also knew that the Fox hated the Uchiha. " **They're smart little bugs. Maybe you should be his friend**?"

Immediately after the Nine-Tailed Fox said that, Shikamaru started to snore.

" **Or maybe not**."

Five minutes or so afterwards the next student strolled in. He was chubbier than most other students that Naruto saw, and thus singled out the only family the kid could have come from.

" **An Akimichi. You had one last year. They're a jolly bunch**."

True to form, the Akimichi waved at Naruto before sitting down next to Shikamaru. The boy attempted to rouse his sleeping friend to no avail. He then shrugged, opened a bag of chips, and started eating. Apparently, this was the status quo.

"I'll consider it," Naruto whispered. The Fox grunted.

The next person to arrive showed up only minutes after the rotund boy. He had charcoal black hair and—

" **No. You are not making friends with** _ **that**_ **boy.** "

No making friends with Sasuke Uchiha. No problems there.

The next person to enter had arrived with an escort. The escort bowed as the small girl entered the room and watched her like a hawk until the girl had sat down near the back.

Both escort and girl had pale eyes and long, silky hair.

" **A Hyuuga. They're… not too bad**."

"They're arrogant," Naruto whispered. He had to do so lower than usual. The girl wasn't that far away from him.

" **This one doesn't seem so** ," the Fox responded. " **I can feel it. She's kind**."

Naruto wasn't sure how the Fox sensed _emotion_ of all things, but he did. He decided not to question it.

"I'll consider it," Naruto whispered. The Fox nodded his head.

The next person to burst through the door was a sight for sore eyes.

"Naruto! You fox smelling bastard! Get over here!"

Naruto immediately climbed onto his desk and darted away.

"Get back here, you mutt!" Kiba Inuzuka yelled. He chased Naruto with a smile on his face.

" **I don't know why you associate yourself with dogs** ," the Fox said with a yawn. " **They're so uncultured**."

"He reminds me of Kiban."

" **Dear gods** ," the Fox said in mock horror. " **There are more of them?** "

Eventually other students filed in while Naruto was evading Kiba's good natured chase. The Fox didn't comment on them, so Naruto paid no attention to them. One of such students was a boy called Shino Aburame. Naruto made sure not to disturb him as he fled from Kiba.

They had a moment of eye contact, even through the boy's shades, as he ran from the dog boy. A slight, almost imperceptible nod came from the boy. Naruto nodded back.

That was all there was to say about that.

Eventually, however, the Academy doors burst open one last time and two girls came barreling in at each other's necks. They seemed to be fighting over something.

They were not as strong as either Naruto or Kiba.

"Hey!" the girls yelled. They were on the ground now. Naruto had managed to dodge around them, but Kiba decided to barrel right through them. "Watch where you're going!"

Kiba turned around with a scowl. "I was," he said. "If you can't take the heat, maybe you should be the ones to get out of the way."

One of the two girls, a green eyed one with pink hair, shot to her feet and advanced on Kiba. She looked confrontational, so Naruto was prepared to step in. Kiba wasn't really a friend, but he was fun to mess with. He approached the girl from behind the dog boy and was ready to fight and—

" **Stop, boy. Do you think she could survive an interaction with you**?"

Naruto decided that he didn't care.

" **I said, stop. There is no need**."

Once again right, the Fox snickered as the other girl, a platinum blond, laid her hand on the pink haired girl's shoulder.

"Don't waste your energy on these two idiots. They were probably raised with no sense in their heads."

Naruto wasn't raised by anyone at all, so he didn't particularly care what the girl said. Kiba, however, snarled. He growled just like Kiban did.

"You take that back, you damn Yamanaka."

"A blasé answer for a blasé ninja," the platinum blond girl responded. "I shouldn't expect much more from an Inuzuka."

Naruto could hear Kiba's growls escalate, and if he knew anything about an Inuzuka, then that meant that Kiba was preparing to go into a frenzy. Naruto didn't particularly care about the dog boy or the Yamanaka, but not doing anything about this was probably going to cause a headache later on.

Walking forward, Naruto did the same to Kiba that the Yamanaka did to her hot headed friend. He placed a hand on Kiba's shoulder. For some reason Kiba stiffened, then calmed down.

"Naruto, what?" the Inuzuka asked. "What do you want?"

Naruto shook his head. "Calm down."

" **Ooh, brat**!" the Fox cut in excitedly. Only Naruto could hear it. " **Say this**!"

Naruto, unsure as to why, repeated what the Fox said.

"They're not worth your time. Their heads are all messed up from messing with other people's heads."

Now that? That elicited a reaction.

"Why, you…" the Yamanaka snarled. She stalked forward, only to be held back by her pink haired friend in a weird role-reversal.

Kiba, on the other hand, was delighted. "You know what, bro? You're absolutely right! You know that my aunt says that all the time?" Kiba then put his arm around the boy. "I knew that Cousin Kiban was right about you! I could just tell you would be a good friend!"

So Kiban really did send his cousin to look after him. That was nice, Naruto guessed.

The Yamanaka, after visibly forcing herself to calm down, pushed her pink haired friend off of her. "Whatever," she grunted. "Subpar boys like you can have each other. _I'm_ going to hang out with someone _cool_." She then stalked off, her pink haired friend in tow. They claimed seats on either side of the Uchiha, much to said boy's annoyance.

Kiba, instead, dragged Naruto back to his seat in the back of the class. Naruto, not one to be confrontational, simply nodded.

He looked down to the suffering Uchiha however. The boy seemed to be distressed. He was trying his best to ignore the two girls squealing in his ears, but to apparently no avail.

" **Kid, no. I know what you're thinking**."

"I can't leave him alone," Naruto said. Kiba, with his impressive hearing, heard the boy. He followed Naruto's gaze.

"The kid? Why not? He's a stuck up Uchiha."

" **The insufferable dog is right!** " the Fox howled. " **He's a useless, stupid, annoying, manipulative, Uchiha!** "

Naruto shrugged off their concerns, as well as Kiba's arm, and made his way down to where the girls were squabbling. The Yamanaka immediately glared at him. Naruto ignored it.

Now, Naruto didn't particularly care about anyone. Besides Tenten, who graduated last year, and the Ramen shop people, there wasn't anyone in his life anymore that could garner his attention.

That didn't mean that the boy didn't feel sympathy, though. He knew about what happened to the Uchiha boy's entire family. He knew that the boy was an orphan like himself.

He knew that the boy just wanted to be left alone sometimes. From the way that Sasuke looked at him, Sasuke knew that Naruto knew that pain as well. With pleading eyes the Uchiha begged for an escape, of any kind, from the rabid fangirls around him.

And so Naruto obliged.

Sasuke wished that he hadn't.

The Uchiha's charcoal black eyes widened as he felt the Uzumaki's lips crash into his own. To say it was a kiss would be a gross exaggeration. This was the blonde boy attacking his lips with his own. It was terrible on every account.

And yet the two girls were shocked into silence. Their shock allowed Naruto to drag the Uchiha away from his seat and to where Kiba and he were sitting in the back of the room.

And that's how Sasuke Uchiha ended up sitting in the back of the room with the delinquent boys.

Even as the entire room watched in shock along with Sasuke, Kiba would not stop laughing.

Naruto just kept his head down and went back to sleep.

XxX

" **You know, kid** ," the Fox started.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine…"

" **I wasn't serious when I said that we'd** _ **start off**_ **with one hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and kilometers to run. I figured that we'd go slow. Start at maybe ten. Work our way up to one hundred every day**."

"One hundred," Naruto chanted. Pushing up from his one hundredth push-up, Naruto started to limber up for his run.

" **You can stop this. You didn't have to do it literally every day**."

Naruto took off for a run.

" **Fucking humans**."

XxX

"Why is the bastard still sitting back here with us?" Kiba asked. He sat in the third seat in the row, the one next to the isle. Sasuke was sitting in the seat in the middle, and currently trying to get Naruto to switch with for the window seat. He wasn't making any progress.

"For once, I agree with the dog," Ino grunted. She sat in the row directly in front of them, looking exactly as disgruntled as she sounded.

" **For once** ," the Kyuubi growled. " **I agree with the humans. Why** _ **is**_ **the bastard still sitting back here with us**?"

Naruto, who was trying his best to ignore everyone around him, finally lifted his head from the desk. Sasuke took this moment to pounce on him.

"Finally, you're up. Let's switch seats."

Naruto stared at the boy. A full minute passed without the boy either saying anything or blinking. Most were unnerved. Sasuke was not.

"I am an Uchiha. We _invented_ that look. So you can either pay me back for that kiss you stole or we can have an Impassive Stare Off."

Naruto didn't respond. He just kept staring. Sasuke, used to such things, impassively stared back.

No one interrupted them. Not even Iruka.

They continued for the whole day.

XxX

" **Brat** ," Kyuubi groaned. " **That's a rock**."

Naruto nodded. Up, down.

" **No, better yet, that's a boulder. You realize you're lifting a boulder**?"

Naruto nodded again. Up, down.

" **Brat, that's not even part of your training routine. Why are you lifting a boulder**?"

Naruto nodded. It didn't answer the Nine Tails' question. The Fox pretended that it did.

" **At least find a bigger one**."

Naruto nodded. He threw the boulder off him and jumped up in search of a bigger one. The rock went up, up, up.

When it finally came back down it created a crater.

XxX

"Seriously," Kiba grunted. It was physical fitness day and Iruka was forcing them through some vigorous drills. They were currently on sit ups. It wasn't Kiba's strong suit. "Why is the bastard still hanging with us?"

Naruto didn't answer. He was belting through sit ups several times faster than everyone else. In truth, he was done a while ago, but Iruka couldn't find it in himself to stop the boy.

"I find it…" Ino said around gasps of breath. She was still on the push up portion of the exercise and didn't seem to be finishing anytime soon. "… disturbing that we agree so often, Inuzuka."

Sakura was even further behind than Ino. She was still on her stretches. Iruka wondered how that was possible.

Sasuke, who was desperately trying to keep up with Naruto, was panting as well. "The blonde bastard needs to pay me back." Sasuke then collapsed back onto the ground. He wasn't near completing even half of what Naruto had. "Until he does he's going to ward off the fangirls. Well, you are going to ward off fangirls, mutt. You keep hanging out with him, though, so he's paying me back through you."

Kiba bristled and glared at Sasuke at the end of every sit up. "Then how is he going to pay _me_ back for hanging out with you?"

"Through me," Ino panted. She switched over to sit ups, but then considered the effort and decided to take a break. "The instant he stops hanging out with you and Sasuke, I'm taking that third spot."

"I thought you hated me," Kiba asked.

"I do," Ino responded, "but Sasuke's coolness outweighs how much you suck."

The three ninja fell into a silence. They were in awe of the rock-paper-scissors dynamic that they had somehow naturally fallen into.

The silence was broken only by Naruto's now jackhammer speed as he started his squats, and Shikamaru's snoring as he slept just out of view of the teachers.

He was behind even Sakura.

XxX

Naruto had completed his thirty seventh run around the Hidden Leaf Village. It was five in the morning. Not a bad start to the day.

"Yosh!" a youthful voice called out behind him. Naruto ignored it. "Your youthful spirit is invigorating, young Naruto!"

The Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf ran up to Naruto and lifted him in the air. The man was wearing an all green jumpsuit that hugged every perfectly sculpted muscle in his body.

Naruto thought he looked cool. The Nine Tails gagged.

" **I did not invest so much time and effort into you just for you to disappoint me like this. You are** _ **not**_ **wearing that monstrosity**."

Naruto considered asking for a leotard.

" **Damn it boy, you are NOT wearing that**!"

Naruto snickered.

" **Insufferable human**."

"I have seen you baring your youth around the outskirts of the village and I am impressed, young Naruto!" the Green Beat, Might Gai, yelled.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure why, but that sentence seemed dirty.

"If I cannot match your youth, then I will do a thousand pushups with boulders attached to my legs!"

Naruto gasped. That actually didn't sound like too bad of an idea.

" **Human, no**."

XxX

Sasuke smirked. It was a wicked smile, borne of literally months of trying to prove himself.

"Finally. Finally, I have something that I can beat you in."

In the Uchiha's hand was a throwing knife. The boy tossed it in the air, letting it flip blade over handle, before catching it and doing it again.

Naruto shrugged. He picked up the dull throwing knife that was placed before him and looked at the target dummy. It was a crude straw man with a target over its torso. With a shrug, Naruto flicked his wrist. His knife fell short halfway to the dummy.

Sasuke's smirk widened. "Ha. You throw it like this." Sasuke then flicked his wrist much harder. The knife flew straight and true, before embedding itself dead center of the target.

Sasuke turned, wide eyed and victorious, to his blond rival. "See? Impressed?"

Naruto shrugged. After months of hanging out with the boy, Sasuke translated the action as a resounding "yes". Sasuke was understandably ecstatic.

Iruka, however, was not. "Naruto, I know that you have never been particularly good at aiming, but you need to at least put a little bit of effort into this." Iruka then walked up to Naruto. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "From your physical reports alone, I know that you at least make it to the dummy. Can you do that for me, Naruto? I believe that you can."

Naruto looked at Iruka. His gaze, impassive and long, showed nothing of what the boy was thinking. Regardless, he took the knife that his teacher was handing him and inspected it. It was dull, just like every other knife they had. Slowly, Naruto stepped up to the starting line.

" **Boy** ," the fox grumbled. " **Think very carefully about what you're about to do**."

Naruto shrugged. How bad could it be?

Taking aim, Naruto tried his second chance at throwing the knife. He put minimal effort into it, and the knife flew on a straight path.

It missed the target completely, instead hitting the edge of the dummy's head.

Sasuke laughed. "Is that the be-"

The knife had kept going. It pierced the stone wall behind the dummy that circled the school. The wall was obliterated as the knife just kept going, eventually going on to pierce through the trees surrounding the schoolyard and then leaving line of sight.

The students in attendance gaped. "What?"

" **We gotta go** ,"the fox yelped.

"I gotta go," Naruto yelled. Actually putting effort into his stride, the boy disappeared from the schoolyard.

The ground where he was standing was cracked.

XxX

Naruto kicked his legs. They dangled over the edge of the branch he was currently sitting on. He looked downwards, towards the ground, as he contemplated things.

" **I told you to be careful** ," the Fox said. Naruto nodded.

"Mm."

For a while, silence reigned. Naruto swung his feet, and the leaves were blown on the wind.

" **You have gotten stronger. Much, much stronger than you used to be. You know that**?" the Fox asked. Naruto once more nodded.

"Mmm."

" **So** ," the Fox started. He hesitated on his words. " **You know what happened today, right**?"

Naruto nodded.

" **You are strong, Naruto. Far stronger than you were**."

"Mmm."

" **And you're stronger than they are, too. Well, most of them, anyway**."

Naruto nodded.

" **You don't like that, do you**?"

Naruto shook his head.

" **I'm not apologizing. You needed to get stronger in order to handle my power. You needed to get stronger in order to handle what's coming for you**."

Naruto grunted. "What."

The Fox's ears twitched, not that Naruto could tell. " **Hmm**?"

"What do you need that for? To get stronger? Why do you want me stronger?"

The Fox grumbled. " **I told you, so that you could handle my power. Or did you forget about this**?"

A tendril of red chakra snaked out of Naruto's belly. Naruto stared at it for a bit, before reaching out with his left hand and grabbing it. The tendril froze in his hands, as if cowed, and Naruto squeezed it tight.

"I am strong," Naruto said. His voice was low, like he wasn't used to using it. "I was strong a year ago. Still you want stronger. Why?"

The Fox was quiet for a moment. He waited a moment longer before answering. " **Because you need to be. There are things out there that are stronger than you could possibly imagine. You need my power if you want to handle it**."

"I have your powe-"

" **You need more of it. Lots more of it. If you want to use it properly, then you need to be a lot stronger than you are now. Do you understand?** "

Naruto nodded.

" **Good. Now, next on the li** -"

"What."

" **Pardon**?"

"What is it that you want me to handle?"

" **Mmm** ," the Fox mused. " **That is a question for another time**."

"No," Naruto said. There was force behind it. "No other time. Now. I didn't ask questions for two years. I just want the answer now."

The Fox was quiet once more. Several minutes passed while the two sat in the same tree that Naruto at under those two years ago. Seeing nothing else to do, Naruto started kicking his legs once more.

" **Brat**."

"Hmm?"

" **To the ground, for me**."

Naruto nodded. He jumped down to the ground and made his way over to the soft dirt. The tendril in his hand burst out and started drawing in the dirt.

" **Do you remember your history class, brat**?"

Naruto shook his head. The Fox snorted.

" **Well** , **remember this one. Tell me** …"

In the dirt the tendril had drawn a wide circle. Inside of it were two more concentric circles centered by a dot.

" **What do you know of a 'Madara Uchiha'**?"


	3. Chapter 3: Team Placement

_**Greetings! Sorry about the delay! I was a bit sidetracked for this chapter because I (suddenly lost interest in this part of the story) was SUPER busy. But the setup is basically done.**_

 _ **Expect quicker updates.**_

* * *

School was not a normal day for Naruto anymore.

" **It won't be that bad** ," the Fox grumbled. " **Just walk in, sit down, and ignore everyone like you usually do. Piece of cake**."

Naruto nodded. He would ignore everyone and maybe the problem at hand, namely his performance yesterday, and maybe everything would go back to normal. With renewed confidence the blond boy opened the door to his classroom. He took one step in—

"Foxy, where have you been?"

"Uzumaki? You have returned."

"Naruto! What was that yesterday?"

"Dobe! You didn't tell me that you could do that! I still hit the target though. Don't forget that!"

At the front of the class the Hokage, who was talking to Iruka, turned around and raised an eyebrow.

—Naruto promptly took that step back outside and closed the door.

" **Okay kid, I was wrong. Not a piece of cake. If we start running now we can probably get away**."

Naruto nodded. With a burst of strength the boy was already zooming away. Unknown to him the Hokage— a man unrivaled even amongst his peers— had thought of that. The aged leader snapped his fingers and another burst of strength echoed from the schoolyard.

Naruto was familiar with this level of youth.

"YOUNG NARUTO! IF I CANNOT CATCH UP TO YOU AND SUBDUE YOU THEN I WILL DO FIVE HUNDRED LAPS AROUND KONOHA ON MY—"

Naruto ignored the rest of it in favor of focusing on running. He didn't think that Might Guy could catch him going at top speed, but then again the Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf had a habit of breaking expectations.

The man had finished the rest of Naruto's laps around the village with him, after all.

Hitting the ground with as little force as possible, the fox boy blurred away. The local area had a small earthquake. Might Guy, seeing it as a challenge, followed suit.

The local area decided that maybe living in a ninja village wasn't so novel.

XxX

It turns out that, yes, Might Guy could catch him going at top speed.

" **You need to up your training**."

Naruto shook his head. No amount of training would remedy whatever hellish regimen that crazy man undertook.

"Naruto," the Third Hokage said. The man, old by anyone's standards, gave off a genial, fatherly feel. All of the younger generation of ninja, and even some civilians, couldn't help but feel at ease when talking to the senior ninja.

All of the _older_ ninjas knew that he was a "senior" ninja for a reason. You didn't survive until you had wrinkles in this profession unless you were doing something horrifically right. Hiruzen Sarutobi was good at what he did. Terrifyingly good. So good that when the village was left leaderless after the death of the Fourth Hokage, the best candidate to take over was the wrinkly old man trying to eat his pudding in the senior home.

No, older ninjas knew of the power resting just underneath the Hokage's robes and rightfully feared it. It was an enormous, primal power that anyone worth their salt could feel instinctively. Without saying a word the Hokage could intimidate anyone worth intimidating.

Naruto sat in front of such an existence feeling simply disgruntled.

"Did you have fun today?" the old man asked.

Naruto shook his head. He would have gotten up and left, but he was tied to a chair. With chains.

"I see that you had a run around the village," the Hokage continued. "Was it refreshing?"

It was, actually, so Naruto nodded.

"I'm glad you feel good." The Hokage turned his head. "How do you feel, Guy?"

Might Guy was panting on the floor in the corner of the Hokage's office. After opening six gates to catch up with the blond, Guy had to open a seventh in order to restrain him long enough to tie to a chair.

He then had to find another chair because the act of restraining Naruto to a chair broke that chair.

"Guy?" the Hokage asked. The Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf raised a hand, seemingly about to say something.

Then he collapsed.

Unfazed, the Third Hokage turned back to his ward. "I don't think he enjoyed the run as much."

Naruto shook his head.

"He used a lot of energy to catch up to you."

Did he? Naruto stretched what he could while being chained to a chair and felt relatively fine. He wasn't even out of breath anymore.

"Would you mind explaining to me why one of the best ninjas in my employ had to pull out virtually every stop in order to catch you?"

Naruto shrugged.

"I figured as much." The Hokage then rubbed his temple. With a sigh that belied the weariness of ages long outstripping anything Naruto could comprehend, the Hokage took off his hat.

Now, this was a sobering experience for the young boy. Very rarely was the Third Hokage seen without his hat. The red and white triangular adornment was never seen off the man's head outside of funerals, and the red and white robes of state were basically a part of him.

Whatever the reason that the Hokage needed to take off his hat, it was important.

"Naruto," the old man asked. His eyes drooped, and with it his voice. "I know that it has been a while since we last talked."

Naruto couldn't remember the last time that they had talked.

"But you should know that you can come to me for anything. If there are any new developments, or any… voices… talking to you, you should know that you can trust me."

The Fox snorted. His voice echoed in Naruto's head like a giant's in a cavern. " **You can trust the old man like you can trust me**."

Taking the Fox's words to heart, Naruto rapidly shook his head. The Third Hokage nodded.

"I see that you don't want to tell me," the Hokage then stood. "But if you do feel like telling me about your life, know that my door is always open to you."

Naruto nodded. A quick flex of his arms and the chains binding him snapped like cheap twine. The Hokage's eyes widened for a second, before schooling back into the neutral mask that the old man was known for. Naruto stood and moved to leave.

"Naruto," the Hokage said. His voice was low, and soft. "Please, remember what I said."

Naruto nodded as he left.

XxX

"Kakashi, you will keep an eye on the boy. Yes?"

Pages of a book snapped together. A lazy eye rose to meet the aged leader.

"Of course, Lord Hokage."

XxX

Naruto held his pen loosely. The test in front of him made absolutely no sense to him.

" **I told you to pay attention in class**."

Naruto ignored the Fox in his head. Instead, he tried to recall the many things that he zoned out while in Iruka's class over the past year. He failed; the words looked foreign on the page, even though he could read them perfectly.

The Fox sighed, the action akin to a rushing gale. " **The answer to the first question is** _ **Katon**_ **. The Traditional Name for Fire Techniques is** _ **Katon**_ **.** "

Naruto, not having any other answer, wrote down what the Fox told him.

" **The second answer is** _ **Suiton**_ **. That's the Traditional Name for Water Techniques**."

The written test passed in such a way.

XxX

Iruka stepped back after handing Naruto the throwing knife. The rest of the graduating class, excluding Sasuke, did the same.

"Try to hit the target this time, idiot," Sasuke said, a wary smirk on his face. Naruto stared at the boy, his face betraying nothing, before readying the knife to be thrown.

" **Fuck it** ," the Fox growled. " **You're already being watched. There isn't much more to hide**."

Naruto nodded. He cocked his arm back. His blue eyes never left Sasuke's onyx ones.

"Wait, idiot. You need to look at the target to aim at—"

Naruto's arm whipped out, the very action creating a shockwave. The knife left his hands at near supersonic speeds. To be fair, Naruto's knife missed the target, even the dummy, completely.

To his credit, however, the force of the impact destroyed everything even remotely in the path of the knife.

It was a good thing Naruto was chosen to be the last one tested. There wasn't much left of that half of the courtyard.

XxX

"Naruto," Iruka said, his voice shaky. "You have… technically… passed every other test."

Mitsuki, Iruka's assistant teacher, nodded dumbly beside the man. He spared a glance outside. The destruction from the knife throw continued over the horizon.

"You don't technically need to complete this part, as you've shown exemplary performance in all other activities."

Mitsuki looked out the window to the rest of the students currently undergoing the Taijutsu tests. The silver haired man looked back to Iruka and they shared eye contact for but a second before nodding.

Naruto would not be taking part in those. They had to have living students to constitute a graduating class.

"All we need you to do is perform the standard Three Basic Techniques in order to let you go."

"Or you could not," Mitsuki piped up. "You could just go. I could pass you right now and you don't have to do anything else."

Iruka, who was usually a stickler for rules, almost contradicted his assistant. Then he remembered the pulverized courtyard.

The boy had _missed_. Iruka didn't want to see what would happen if he somehow missed the clone technique and blew up the class.

"Or you could just pass right now," Iruka concurred. "Just come take your headband."

In Naruto's head the Fox barked out a laugh. " **It's like they think you could do damage with such nonlethal techniques. Listen kid, I know that we didn't practice those, but they're laughably easy. Just do whatever and let's get out of here**."

Naruto nodded. An intangible clone, a transformation and switching with an object. Easy enough. It's not like he could cause damage with any of those.

As Naruto prepared his hands into a handseal, both teachers immediately ducked under their desks.

XxX

The Third Hokage had once more removed his hat and was now massaging his temple.

"Naruto," the old man said. He dragged out the name before sighing. It was really too long of a day.

Naruto, who was once more tied down with chains, nodded.

"How did you manage to blow up the Academy while doing the _Basic Three Techniques_?

Naruto shrugged.

The Third Hokage sighed. He reached into his desk and pulled out a headband. The cloth was a navy blue, with a metal plate with the Hidden Leaf's Insignia etched into it.

"Just take it. And whatever you did just now… don't do it again."

Naruto nodded. He would only do it on enemies.

"Dismissed."

XxX

Of course, there weren't many people who wanted to be on Naruto's team when Team Selection came around. Out of a grand total of thirty students, there were about four of them who wanted to be on his team.

" **If you keep hanging out with dogs, you're going to get fleas** ," the Fox grumbled. Naruto ignored his grumpy inner voice about as hard as he tried to ignore Kiba hanging off his shoulders.

"We're gonna be teammates, aren't we, Naruto?" the dog boy barked. In his furry hoody a little white puppy barked along. Naruto rubbed behind the ears of Kiba's familiar. His name was Akamaru and he was perhaps the only one that Naruto had no problems with.

"Tch," came a rather snooty voice from the other side of Naruto. Sitting in the window seat was Sasuke Uchiha, and he looked at Kiba like the boy was a disillusioned three year old. "Naruto is strong. He's going to be on a strong team, with me."

Naruto was tempted to agree, if only just because—

" **You are NOT going on the same team as an Uchiha. I** _ **refuse**_ **.** "

It wasn't up to Naruto whose team he was on, but he nodded anyway. The Fox was vehement about this.

"Well, if Sasuke is on your team, I guess that means that I need to be as well," Ino said from the row in front of the three boys. Both Kiba and Sasuke flinched at the thought.

" **I like her,** " the Fox said. " **She would be a good mate**."

Naruto hoped the Fox meant "teammate."

"There's no way that you're going to be on my team," Kiba growled. "I don't appreciate smartasses."

Ino smirked. "That doesn't surprise me. You like the dumb ones, don't you Kiba? I bet you have so much in common with them."

Kiba growled, but it wasn't as hostile as it used to be. "Talk all you want, Ino. I beat you in every spar."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Well, of _course_ you do. It would take a beast to beat someone like you."

Naruto didn't have the heart to point out that most people didn't even try to spar with him anymore. Sasuke, however, didn't have such a problem.

"I've beaten him, Yamanaka. Am I a beast, too?"

Ino looked at Sasuke, then raised a perfectly manicured blond eyebrow. "Of course you are." She then pointed to the three boys one at a time. "You're all beasts. But I suppose that's charming in its own way." Ino then sniffed the air. "Doesn't do much for your sweaty body odor."

Sasuke smirked, and surprisingly, so did Kiba.

"You've become interesting these past few months, Yamanaka." Sasuke said. "If you weren't so weak, I'd let you be my friend."

"I'm your friend whether you like it or not," Ino responded, a similar smirk on her face.

Kiba scoffed. "Stop flirting in front of me. You're making Naruto and I uncomfortable."

"Naruto doesn't mind, do you Naruto?" Ino asked. Naruto looked at her. Unblinking, his stare pierced right through to her soul, chilling her to her core. Ino looked back to Kiba. "See? He doesn't mind."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous. Does the little Inuzuka want to date his little Yamanaka friend?"

Kiba, rather than take the bait, simply smirked. "I'm going to miss you two bastards. Come see Naruto and me when we're put on the same team! I'm sure we'll have fun beating you silly."

Sasuke actually smiled— a real, genuine smile— and continued looking out the window. "Yeah yeah, Naruto and I will visit your team eventually. We'll even let you try to catch up if you're too far behind us."

Ino, noticing that Iruka was done setting up, turned back to the front. "I'm not sure why you two think you'll be alone on Naruto's team. I'm getting him and one of you. At this point, I don't care which one it is. I just feel bad for the one left off."

And like that, the class went silent as their head teacher, Iruka, read off the teams. Sakura, who was sitting next to her best friend, just rolled her eyes. Those four were interesting, but she was glad to be away from their insanity.

"Team One," Iruka started. "Mina Horimizaki…"

"Hey, Naruto," Kiba whispered. Naruto turned his stare to the dog boy. "This is for you. I was told to pass it to you."

Naruto nodded. When he took the paper, he quickly unrolled it to reveal a single sentence written in almost neurotically clean handwriting.

" _I hope I'm on your team_."

Well, that couldn't be anyone else. Naruto leaned forward to look at the class' Hyuuga. The normally shy girl waved at him. He waved back.

" **Her. I really like her.** "

Naruto nodded. Well, with so many prospective classmates, there was little chance that he would be on absolutely none of their teams.

XxX

He was on absolutely none of their teams.

"How?" Ino screamed, her hands pounding the table in protest. "How is he not on anyone's team? We had _exactly_ the amount of people needed to fill a roster of three man teams! How is Naruto not on any of ours?"

Iruka, feeling sheepish, had the decency to meet his student's eyes. "We had an emergency addition to our class over the past couple of weeks. He had to fill the roster as well and it was decided that he would fit a team better than Naruto would."

Kiba looked to be on the verge of breaking. His sharp nails gouged lines into the wooden desk, and his teeth ground into each other so hard that others could hear it. There was a low growl emanating from either him or his equally upset puppy, and Naruto couldn't tell which.

"Naruto has been with us for the _whole year_. He has better chemistry with us than any new kid possibly could. When did we even _get_ a new kid?"

Iruka directed his attention away from the dog boy to a different corner of the room. Sure enough, in the third seat in the row with Choji and Shikamaru sat another boy. His skin was pale, almost impossibly so, to the point that it was almost as white as snow.

"Hello," the boy said. He raised his hand and waved it. He attempted to smile, but the action was at best a cheap imitation of a smile. "I am Sai. It is nice to meet you."

Kiba stared at the boy, his mouth agape and his eyes unfocused. He tried to take in the boy but failed, having gained absolutely no impression whatsoever. Instead, Kiba turned back to the teacher. He raised an arm and gestured at the boy.

"That. You want _that_ to be on a team over Naruto? You think that we can form any cohesion with an emotionless husk of a child like that?"

To his credit, Sai didn't react to the insult. Instead, the boy smiled again. The action creeped several of the onlooking students.

Iruka just tilted his head. "You got along with Naruto?" the man asked.

"Like biscuits and gravy," Kiba responded.

"Then this should be much of the same."

Coincidentally Naruto took this time to acknowledge Sai. The pale boy met Naruto's gaze and the two stared at each other. Neither blinked for a whole minute before, somehow, they both came to some sort of unspoken agreement and turned away.

The class shared a collective shudder.

Kiba sat down. His eyes were still fierce as he laid his head down, burying his face in his arms as he did so.

"This isn't over, yet." He grumbled.

"Now, is everyone done?" Iruka asked. No one responded. "Great. Everyone you will be staying here waiting for your sensei. Naruto? You will be coming with me."

Seeing no reason to resist, the boy stood up and walked towards his teacher. Iruka nodded, then opened the classroom door. Sparing one glance over his shoulder, the blond boy blinked before closing his door on his almost friends.

XxX

"Naruto," the Third Hokage said. He had his hands steepled before him as he looked over the boy he was quickly becoming wary of. "I'm sure that you are wondering why you are here today."

Naruto shrugged. He didn't particularly care why he was here. Not being chained down before the old man was a nice change to the usual routine, though, so Naruto obliged the man.

"I'm sure that you're confused as to why you weren't placed on a team." The Hokage shouldered through the boy's silence. The Third was long used to Naruto's lack of speech. "The answer is a bit unorthodox. Even we weren't prepared for the decision."

Naruto nodded, showing that he was listening. The Hokage took a deep breath before answering. When he did, his eyes were softer, but no less guilty.

"You are too strong."

" **I could've told you as much** ," the Fox grumbled.

"You were able to outpace and even overpower one of my physically strongest ninja. Are you ready to tell me how this came to be?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I figured as much," the Hokage sighed. He then reached over and retrieved a small manila file. He thumbed through a few pages before landing on a page and pulling it out. The Hokage made to examine it for a bit, before turning it to Naruto. The page had a picture on it of a destroyed landscape.

"Have you ever seen this before, Naruto?"

Naruto looked at the picture and affirmed that he had in fact not seen that place before in his life.

"Of course not." The Hokage replaced the picture in the folder and sat back in his chair. "That is the crater where your most recent attempt at tossing kunai ended. Somewhere, far under the ground, your kunai has most likely shattered on the bedrock. Before this picture was a crater, however," the Hokage leaned forward, his face grim, "that was a rather bustling hub for the local wildlife. It was well forested and densely populated. Now it is a crater."

The Hokage then reached to remove his hat. As he placed the hat on his oaken desk, he sighed once more.

"It is a crater that is several miles away from where you through that knife, with a trail of destruction and disarray leading up to it. Do you have an explanation for that, Naruto?"

" **You throw very hard** ," the Fox supplied.

"I throw very hard," Naruto parroted. The Hokage obviously wasn't accepting that as an answer.

"Is that all? Did you use a special technique? Any chakra?" The Hokage then paused, and then said his next words very carefully. "Do you use any special chakra?"

"No," Naruto answered, his voice soft. "I used my muscles."

"No one can throw that hard with just their muscles," the Hokage responded. His wrinkled face seemed to crease even more as he tried to explain what seemed like perfect knowledge to a yet not understanding boy.

Naruto tilted his head, apparently lost. The Hokage rubbed his temple.

"We're putting you on a team by yourself." At Naruto's even more confused face, the old man continued. "You are obviously much more powerful than you should be, so we can't place you on any team without upsetting the scales. Instead, we're making it so that you're on a need-to-have basis. Effective immediately you're essentially a freelance ninja."

Naruto nodded. The Hokage knew that he hadn't understood.

"You're a ninja, okay?" the old man recited. "But think of it as more of a hobby. You're a hero for hobby, okay?"


	4. Chapter 4: On The Bridge

_**New chapter guys! This time I both updated in a timely manner AND hit the five thousand word mark I usually aim for!**_

 _ **Please, enjoy, and let me know how it is.**_

 _ **Also, yeah, I'm changing the genre from humor. That was a mistake. Thanks for that review.**_

* * *

"You know," the old landlady chirped. "You really don't belong here."

Naruto, for the third time that day, shrugged. His landlady had said that to him numerous times throughout the day and would not stop repeating it until he responded. Instead of dignifying a conversation, the boy shrugged and got back to doing his job for the day: cleaning the gutters of his own apartment building.

"I don't mean _here_ ," the lady said, gesturing to the apartment building. "I mean here, as in doing this. You're far too skilled. You're more than overqualified."

Once again Naruto shrugged. Using a new technique his Jonin teacher of the week taught him, Naruto coated his hand with chakra. A thin film of the stuff coated his hand, and Naruto attempted to use the now gloved appendage to sweep the gunk out of the gutters. As soon as he tried, however, he lost focus. The light coating of spiritual and physical energy dissipated from his hand, leaving him to touch the mud and leaves with his bare skin.

"Ew," Naruto said. His face scrunched up as the landlady smiled.

"I knew you could talk," she said, her mirth evident from the chuckle that escaped her lips. "You should do it more often. You're far too young to have run out of words."

Naruto considered shrugging once more but thought better of it. Instead he wiped the gunk off his hand and onto his pants. He leaned back from his perch on the wall and stared at his neighbor. "No."

The old lady chuckled. "And why not?"

"Because," Naruto said, his voice soft and barely audible. Only years of listening for the slightest noise allowed the retired ninja to hear the boy. "I don't want to."

"Ah," the landlady said, an air of knowing in her voice. "Then what _do_ you want to do?"

Naruto seemed to take a moment. The chakra, which he had tried to reapply, dissipated from his hand once more as the boy seemingly stared off into the distance. After a while the boy seemed to snap out of his reverie with a shake of his head. He leaned back from the wall again and stared at his landlady.

"I want to get stronger."

The landlady lost her smirk almost immediately. With a hum, the old ninja hobbled back into her house and retrieved a white envelope. With a huff, she tossed it out into the open air, and watched as the boy detached himself from the building wall to chase after it. With all the grace of a brick, the boy shot through the air and caught the envelope, before falling to the ground and landing unharmed.

"There's the payment for the D-ranked mission, brat." The landlady leaned on her windowsill as she stared imperiously down at the orange wearing boy. "It'll get split when you report in, but I asked that you get a good cut. I know the old monkey. He'll give you some spending money."

Naruto, instead of thanking her, simply looked back to the gutters. The landlady huffed.

"Don't worry about that. I sent in the mission as an excuse to talk to you anyway. If I wanted the gutters cleaned, they'd be clean."

Naruto raised a perfectly blonde eyebrow in response. The landlady rolled her eyes. She ran through hand seals faster than Naruto could discern.

"Earth Technique: Cleaning Out The Gutters."

Immediately all of the gunk in the gutters jumped out and floated as if possessed. Naruto would have whistled at the feat, if not for the mischievous grin on the old lady's face.

"Get going, boy," the landlady grunted. As if those words were the command, the gunk seemed to tense, before flying at the blonde boy. Naruto dodged the first volley easily enough, but the next came in increasing speed. Before long, Naruto had to flee, the gunk following him as if on a mission.

The landlady looked after the boy wistfully. Once he was effectively out of her sight, the old lady turned and hobbled back into her room.

"So you're looking to get stronger, brat?" The landlady rubbed at her bad leg, a habit that was almost instinctual at this point. "Don't we all."

XxX

Naruto stepped into the room of the Hokage, his bright blue eyes taking in everything around him. The Hokage, as usual, sat rather leisurely behind his desk, but prior knowledge clued Naruto in to the fact that the man was anything but relaxed.

"Ah," the old man said. He looked up from a piece of paper he was examining to eye the young blonde as he made his way into the room. "I see you are done with the mission. Were you given your pay?"

Naruto nodded, before walking forward and placing the envelope on the desk. The Third Hokage opened it and leafed through its contents, before landing on a note that was included alongside the pay. The Hokage read it quickly, allowing first a scowl, then a small smile to grace his face.

"Your client is rather manipulative. She intends to have me give you the full pay."

Naruto nodded. It made sense. He did, after all, do the full work. Sort of. Mostly.

"However, that is not how it works. If the Village is to have any capital, we need to tax our people for their services. It is customary for us to take a majority percentage of the pay, but since this is a low-ranked mission and I know the client…"

The Hokage continued to take a small pile of coins off the top of the payment.

"I think I can excuse it, this one time. Take your payment and be gone, Genin Uzumaki."

Naruto nodded, then walked forward and took the money left for him on the desk. He made to count it, but then suddenly decided that such a thing wasn't necessary. Instead, the boy shoved the money into his pocket and made for the door. As his hand reached for the handle, however, the door was shoved open. Unfortunately for whoever was on the other side, Naruto stood barring the entry to the room. The door stopped immediately upon hitting Naruto, even it knowing an unstoppable force when meeting it.

Naruto stood unperturbed by the occurrence, even though whoever it was on the other side very clearly collapsed from the unexpected run in with a suddenly immovable door. The blonde looked around, uncertain of what he had to do, and eventually let his eyes fall on his leader. The Hokage sighed.

"Just… let whoever that is in."

Naruto nodded and stepped to the side. The door, warily this time, opened and allowed in a rather disheveled Chuunin.

"What the hell was that…" the boy, just barely into his teens, mumbled. He shook off his disorientation soon enough and looked to his leader. "Never mind that. Lord Hokage! There is grave news from Team Kakashi!"

The Hokage snorted. "Don't you mean Team Seven?"

"He insisted that I call it otherwise, sir."

"Very well," the Hokage allowed, knowing that while Kakashi was childish, the man was also stubborn and easily one of the best soldiers at his command. He would allow such frivolity. "What is this grave news?"

"It appears that Jonin Kakashi and his pack of Genin have run into enemy missing ninja while on their trip. He is requesting back up."

The Hokage sighed, then rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Why didn't he abandon the mission and return, should that have been the case?"

The Chuunin looked away, then started rubbing the back of his neck. "He, uh, included that in his S.O.S. He said that, and I quote, 'his cute little Genin were too hard to refuse.'"

The Hokage sighed. Of course he did.

"Very well, I will endeavor to send him some reinforcements." And the Hokage then proceeded to do so, before he realized something.

He didn't have to call for anyone if the strongest, and cheapest paid, member of his forces was in this very room.

"Genin Uzumaki," the Third called. Like a good soldier, Naruto answered, albeit clumsily. His salute was a little lax. The Hokage didn't mind. "You are to travel to the Land of Waves and assist Jonin Hatake and his squad in whatever little trouble they find themselves in. As per usual, you are freelance, but for the duration of the rest of their trip you are to answer to Kakashi Hatake. Is that understood?"

Naruto nodded.

"Then make speed, Naruto," The Third said with what he hoped was fondness in his voice. He hadn't been able to connect with the boy as much as he had wanted to, but he hoped there was still some sort of connection there between himself and the boy.

That hope was answered when Naruto smiled back. It was a tiny, almost imperceptible thing, but the boy smiled regardless.

"Of course, Gramps," the boy said, before turning and making his way out of the room. He was gone before long, leaving the Hokage alone in his office with the confused Chunin who had notified him and really far too much paperwork.

The Hokage was prepared to dismiss the boy and go about his work again when a small quake from outside the Tower he resided in interrupted that.

"What the—" the Chuunin asked. The Third held up a hand.

"That was… Naruto," the elder said, his voice weary. "He's on his way to Wave."

"Oh," the Chuunin responded, clearly surprised. "I guess that's it, then."

The two went silent, letting the sentence and its implications sit in the air.

It was the Chuunin who broke it.

"I'm surprised he knows the way to Wave."

Silence reigned once more. The Hokage put a hand to his head.

"Shit."

XxX

Going out of the Village for the first time was supposed to be a magnificent adventure. Naruto could just feel it. Where the Village was boring and stagnant and filled with disapproving looks, the world outside was to be amazing.

Princesses and Evil Warlords, power hungry mad scientists and Evil Cults. All of that and more was supposed to be awaiting him the instant he stepped out of the Village.

What he was met with, however, was more of the same.

"Kidnapped princesses?" a man asked while half leaning on an old gardening tool. "You realize that we're a farming village, right? We don't have any princesses here. If you want that, you're going to have to head to the Fire Capital."

After asking and being assured that no, there weren't any missing villagers to be found, Naruto reluctantly made his way to the Fire Capital.

"Princess? Why would we allow you to see the princess?" a Royal Guard asked Naruto. The boy, who was currently standing unperturbed even though there were three different guards trying to move him, just shrugged in response. "She's fine and doesn't need saving. Now shoo. Go about your day."

Naruto did just that. He went about his day and stumbled into Rice Country.

"Mad Scientists?" A bespectacled young man asked. He adjusted his glasses nervously, his eyes roaming everywhere but the honest blue eyes of the young man. "None of that here. I assure you."

Naruto stared at the man. His gaze pierced through to the man's very soul.

"I assure you on my name that Lord Orochimaru isn't here."

Naruto shrugged. He had no idea who this "Orochimaru" was, but he didn't seem like an Evil Scientist. Bidding the young man a good day—much to said young man's relief— Naruto took off again.

Surprisingly, he did find a Cult.

"Lord Janshin demands your blood!" a silver haired man yelled. He hefted a mighty fine scythe above his head. Just a single blade of the weapon was bigger than Naruto, and each of the scythe's three blades was tinted the color of blood.

Speaking of which, Naruto wasn't sure of the last time that he saw his own blood. Giving a half-hearted shrug, the boy held out his arm and prepared for the swing.

At least it would be interesting.

" **Ask for directions when you're done** ," the Fox sighed. " **You've been roaming far too much**."

Naruto snorted. He wasn't roaming, he was just hitting up places on his way to Wave.

Wherever "Wave" was.

XxX

Sasuke cursed, or tried to, as he ducked under yet another volley of ice needles. Scarlet eyes darted around the battlefield, trying to take in everything they could, before their owner reacted. New to the Sharingan, Sasuke was quickly realizing that he wasn't nearly fast enough to react to the things that he could see.

And that was a problem.

"Stand still, you freak!" Sasuke yelled. With practiced ease, the raven haired boy pulled a knife out of a holster on his leg. With a twirl, he swiped upwards, deflecting several ice shards that were aimed for him.

"That would appear… unwise," his opponent answered. The masked boy, or girl as they were wearing a kimono, then slunk back into a floating mirror of ice. It was one of many that surrounded the Uchiha, some of which were floating in the air, forming a dome of ice mirrors that had very little space in between. "You will prove interference to my precious person, and for that reason, I cannot allow you to escape."

The masked ninja, now reflected in every mirror, seemed to hesitate before continuing.

"I don't… I don't want to hurt you," the masked person said. Even through the mask, Sasuke could feel the reluctance in his opponent. "But if you push the issue, I will kill my heart in order to do what I must. If you just stand down, I will let you live."

Sasuke scowled. His teeth grinded against each other as he contemplated the dilemma he was currently in. Simply put, he was outmatched in every way against his opponent. They were faster, stronger, and simply _better_ than he was. He had unlocked the Sharingan after so many years of trying and still…

It just wasn't enough.

It was frustrating. After all this time he was no closer to Itachi than he was before. The gap between them seemed to be widening every time he thought he was shortening it.

Worse still, he wasn't even getting closer to Naruto.

Sasuke was under no illusions about how strong he himself was. He was the best of his generation, that's for sure, but before Itachi's progress he was behind. By this age Sasuke's murderous older brother was already a prospective ANBU.

By his age Naruto, who was technically younger than him, was decimating landscapes with nary a thought.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed. His empty hand twitched, and briefly he contemplated reaching for a second knife.

"I wouldn't recommend it," the masked ninja said, their voice echoing around the area through the multiple mirrors. "You're no stronger for it. I haven't been going at full speed. You'll have twice the weapons to deflect my needles, but I'll be going at thrice the speed."

Sasuke's hand stopped halfway to his holster. Now frozen there, he had no choice but to abandon that thought. Was the masked ninja telling the truth, or were they bluffing? Could they really go three times as fast as they were going now? He could barely keep up with them as he was.

Reluctantly, Sasuke let his free hand fall. He had no other choice. He wanted to continue the fight, but he couldn't risk dying. It hurt, but he was outmatched. To lose here would mean his pride, and that was all he had left.

But he couldn't avenge his clan if he were dead.

"Damn it…" Sasuke cursed. His fist clenched around the knife in his hand. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

It was so frustrating! He burned and he bled and he freaking _cried_ to get where he was now. He did everything he could, and still it wasn't enough. There were others out there who were simply _stronger than him_.

Some of those people were his own age.

If only… if only he was stronger. If only he were _faster_. This masked ninja would be a piece of cake if he had been faster. Was he not training hard enough? Was that it?

That had to be it. Before, his goal of revenge was enough to keep him going. But he hadn't seen Itachi in years. His rage was still burning, but it was muted now. Colder. Some far off dream that could be accomplished whenever.

No, Sasuke remembered when he trained his heart out. Sasuke remembered when he had a tangible rival egging him on from beside him.

Kiba Inuzuka was crass, and a bit of a jerk, but he always pushed himself to keep up with Sasuke. Whether it was out of sheer stubbornness or a desire to prove himself, Kiba was a worthy rival that Sasuke had to work to keep ahead of.

Sasuke remembered when he had support of someone whose opinion mattered.

Ino Yamanaka was a worthy ninja. She wasn't physically as strong as he or Kiba, but where she lacked in power, she made up in skill. And she _fawned_ over him. Sure, she did it with a scathing tongue and condescending eyes, but that was what he needed. Acceptance without blind adoration.

Sasuke remembered the pillar that showed him what was possible.

Naruto was a bastion of hope for the young Uchiha. He was power incarnate. He was silent acceptance. He was an enduring rival to pursue.

They were all friends.

They were all taken away from him as he was put on a team with the silent boy and the pink haired one.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed again, his prized eyes closing in an attempt to stave off his frustration. "Damn it all. Where are you guys when I need you…"

If only he had them.

"I can't get what I want like this. Is this as far as I go?"

If only he were stronger.

"Damn it, where are you guys?"

If only he were _**faster**_

"Damn it…" Sasuke choked out. "Where are you, NARUTO?"

This was where Sasuke had decided. Dying here was better than never being able to face his brother. He would die anyway with his lackluster skills, so why not go out with the one thing he had left? His pride on his sleeve, Sasuke reached for his second knife anyway, spinning all the while to attempt to keep an eye on his opponent.

"You fool," the masked ninja hissed. They darted from mirror to mirror, throwing ice needles while they moved at supersonic speeds. Sasuke managed to deflect some, but quite a few embedded themselves in the boy's skin before he even retrieved his second weapon.

"You will die here," the masked ninja hissed. Each of the reflections raised a hand, revealing a fist full of needles.

"Perhaps," Sasuke responded, a bloody smirk on his face. "But at least I died with honor."

"Is that it? Is your honor worth your life?" The masked ninja sounded genuinely confused. It made Sasuke smile all the harder.

"For me?" Sasuke asked. "Definitely. Pride is all a man has, after all." Sasuke then smirked even _harder_ somehow. "But at least I know you're definitely a woman, now."

This seemed to bristle the masked ninja. Two needles dug into Sasuke's knees before he could even react, felling Sasuke to the ground.

"W-what?"

"I told you," the masked ninja said. "I wasn't even going at a third of my speed." The masked ninja looked away. It was weird as the action was reflected in each mirror. "Though it is regrettable, I am going to have to take you out. Please, forgive me."

This time, Sasuke could see them. Needles seemed to pour out of the mirrors. Unlike before, however, where they came out one at a time at extremely fast speeds…

… this time they seemed to come from all around him, all at once.

Sasuke closed his eyes. There was no deflecting this.

XxX

Kakashi grunted. He was forced back by Zabuza once more. Where Kakashi had technique and skill galore, the man in front of him was pure strength. Zabuza's sword, which was little more than an oversized cleaver, had been embedded in the stone bridge nearly halfway.

Kakashi was a tall man. The sword was nearly his height. It was buried halfway into the stone bridge.

"Cowardice doesn't befit your name, Copy-Ninja." Zabuza heft the sword out of the stone with one hand. He let it rest on his shoulder. "Come, fight me."

Kakashi scoffed. Like that was going to happen. Deep in this mist was where the Rogue Ninja excelled. He wasn't fighting on even ground with Zabuza so long as he was in it.

"Are you not coming to me?" the man asked. "Very well. Then I will come to you." With that Zabuza, cloaked in all black with bandages covering his face, slowly retreated to the far end of the bridge. The mist engulfed him, and soon he was out of sight.

Kakashi wasted no time. A second knife was in his hands in less than a second, and his one Sharingan darted over what limited area he could see.

" _Heart, lungs, kidneys_ ," Zabuza whispered from the mist. His gruff voice echoed out from just beyond sight in every direction. " _There are so many vital places that I could cut. How would you prefer to die today, Copy-Ninja_?"

Kakashi very much preferred not to die. It was with this resolve that he ducked under a horizontal slash that displaced the mist around him from sheer force alone.

"Your reflexes are good, Hatake," Zabuza said with a sneer. "But they will dull with exhaustion. Come!"

Kakashi grunted as he raised both of his knives. They stopped the man's cleaver just short of hitting him, but only barely.

Zabuza smiled. He had forced Kakashi to grunt from the sheer force he was pushing down. "Your life will end today, just like that of your students. They don't stand a chance against Haku. He is the last of his clan, and a wielder of the rare Ice Release."

Kakashi let himself spare a glance towards the dome of ice. For a second, he let himself feel worry, and the urge to rush over and help his students almost overwhelmed him. Doing so would expose his back to an enemy that they could not let roam free, however, and thus Kakashi squashed that urge.

He was of no use to his team dead. He would just have to have trust in his students. Besides, he was sure at least Sakura was okay.

"You're not the only one with an amazing Blood Talent on your side," Kakashi grunted. He started to push back the cleaver, albeit slowly. "I have the last of the Uchiha."

Zabuza looked surprised at those words. That shock was soon gone, however, replaced by a barking laugh. "Is that so? Is that good enough, though?"

Kakashi sincerely hoped it was.

XxX

Warm liquid splashed his face. To Sasuke's surprise, however, it wasn't his own blood. Slowly, the Uchiha opened his eyes to see, not a hail of needles, but several animals of ink surrounding him. One animal, which he couldn't make out anymore, had fallen apart and bathed a circle around him in ink.

Within the goo he could see stained needles melting away.

"Pretty Boy," a voice called from outside the dome. "Do you need assistance?"

Sasuke wanted desperately to reply with a sarcastic "no," but that would probably be interpreted literally and he would be left alone. Instead, he nodded vigorously and hoped that the boy could actually help him.

"Very well," Sai replied. On cue, a myriad of ink animals climbed from the sides of the bridge. Orangutans, snakes, lions, tigers and… an elephant? Yeah, an elephant, launched over the railings and headed straight for the dome.

The masked ninja, rather than be alarmed, simply prepared more ice needles. They flew out of the mirror, from behind this time, and pierced the ink beasts before they reached the dome.

"Pretty Boy, now!" Sai screamed. As one the ink beasts raced for the small gaps between the ice mirrors. Haku had caught wind of this, however, and refocused his attention to the inside. The needles came slower, however, as the masked boy had to focus on the ink animals still coming from outside.

Sasuke made to follow the animals in their charge, when an ink gorilla grabbed him.

"What are you—" Sasuke started. He was cut off when Sai's voice started to come from the beast.

"You are not going with them. You are meant to go _up_." And then the beast, with no further prompting, cocked its arm back.

"Wait," Sasuke said, his voice trembling. "You couldn't possibly be—"

The gorilla launched Sasuke, sending him flying for a gap in the ice mirrors at the _top_ of the dome. Surprisingly there was no reflection in the ice mirror making up the dome's ceiling. In his flight Sasuke could make out his pale teammate diving towards him on a bird of ink.

"Pretty Boy!" Sai called. "My hand!"

Sasuke nodded. He held out his hand to take Sai's outstretched one. He was close, almost making it clear of the ice dome, when a sandaled foot kicked him in the chest, sending him careening back down to the bridge. He hit it with bone crunching force, and for a second he could feel the wind knocked out of him.

"Darn," Sai cursed. He made to fly back to the safety of the air, but ice needles pierced his bird before he could ascend. Abandoning it, Sai intended to retreat once more.

Then a water bullet shot him out of the air. He fell, twisting in midair, before clipping an ice mirror and falling into the dome.

Unlike Sasuke, Sai was able to land on his feet. Much like Sasuke, however, the boy was injured to the point he could barely move.

"S-Sai," Sasuke grunted. He had managed to push himself to his hands and knees, but not much further. "Can you… do that again? The ink things?"

Sai shook his head. "It took me far too long to get even that many done. Why do you think I couldn't help you before?" Sai then frowned. "Still, as it stands, I barely have any chakra left. We're stuck."

Sasuke cursed. With visible struggle he forced himself back to his feet. With another knife in his hand, he attempted to ready himself, but failed to do so.

"You're dead on your feet, Uchiha," the masked person said. Once more did he have a volley of ice needles holstered in his fist. "I can see you swaying. Give up, now. I will let you live."

"Maybe we should take his advice," Sai whispered. Sasuke pushed the boy away. The action nearly cost him his balance, but it was worth it.

"No," Sasuke grunted. "I will not give up now. I _refuse_ to lose before I'm standing before that man again!"

The masked boy, in each of the mirrors, seemed to sag. It was obvious, the disappointment reflected across the many mirrors.

"If that is how you choose to proceed, then you cannot begrudge me on how _I_ choose to proceed. I will kill my heart and with it, you." The masked boy, Haku, readied his projectiles. "Please forgive me in the Pure World."

Sasuke, once again, closed his eyes. Sai didn't.

"Um, you realize that I'm not exactly with him, correct? I am fine with giving up to live another day."

Whether or not Sai was heard was inconsequential. Haku released his ice needles at the both of them. The projectiles, deadly and precise and sharp, sailed straight and true for the two downed ninjas.

Sasuke had accepted his death.

It was really too fortunate that another didn't.

XxX

Sakura heard her voice before she registered that she was screaming. It was an unconscious action, born of concern and fear for her teammates. The ice needles closed in fast around them, packed so thick that they were an almost wall of white. They would pierce and skewer then boys without fail, leaving them bloody and bruised and surely dead.

Then, far off, a shockwave shook the bridge. It was a clap the threw even her off her feet. Behind her the person her team was meant to protect, a bridge builder by the name of Tazuna, cried in alarm as he held onto his bridge's railing.

Then, like a divine breath of the gods, a gale swept over the bridge. It pushed away first the mist, then the hail of needles. The ice mirrors attempted to hold their form, but even they were blown away from the gale's unstoppable onslaught. The bridge, now clear of smog, showed all of its occupants.

Sasuke and Sai lay on the ground further down the bridge. They were caught in the gale with nothing to hold onto, and thus were carried away.

Even further down the bridge lay Haku under the debris of his own broken ice mirrors. He was very clearly knocked out.

Further up the bridge Zabuza, the scary missing ninja, held onto his massively oversized cleaver. He had stabbed it into the bridge and was using it as both an anchor and a shield against the wind. It proved effective.

Kakashi had done the same with his two knives.

"What was… what was that?" Tazuna asked. Sakura didn't know. She looked to the direction where the blow came, only to see something she hadn't seen in a very long time.

Standing with a fist outstretched as if he had just thrown a punch, was a blond haired, orange clad boy. Said boy slowly retracted his fist and stood in a more casual stance, before tilting his head.

"Is…" the boy started. "Is this finally Wave Country?"


	5. Chapter 5: Too Powerful

_**Hey guys. Sorry about the late update. Continue to comment and favorite it, and I'll continue to try to get these out on time.**_

* * *

Zabuza was so close to winning. The biggest, and perhaps only, obstacle between him and his pay was on his knees before him. Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, could do little to escape him in his signature Hidden Mist. Now that the man was on the defensive, and buckled under the weight of Kubikiribocho, all he had to do was win the war of attrition and the Leaf ninja's life would be forfeit.

As a side, his loyal weapon had the Copy Ninja's brats cornered as well. Victory was all but assured for him. Soon he'd have enough to go fund his second attempt at revolution. Soon, his home Village would finally be liberated and…

… and then a gust of wind, stronger than any Technique he had ever felt before, blew through the area. It blew away his chakra augmented Mist as if it were simple fog and even displaced him. Thinking quickly, the Mist ninja stabbed his sword into the bridge and held on for dear life. Behind him, beyond the howling gale, Zabuza heard the ice mirrors crack and the brats yelling for dear life. Hatake grunted as well, before holding true to his name and copying Zabuza by stabbing his weapon into the bridge.

They were all affected, so this attack was indiscriminate. But who was so strong to attack _two_ high class ninjas like that?

Eventually the mist completely cleared, and the gust died down accordingly. After a few seconds of calm, Zabuza endeavored to look up from his sword only to see something he wasn't expecting.

It was a boy, clad in all orange and with the brightest, bluest eyes he had ever seen. His blond hair seemed to shine more intensely than the sun, which was offset by how utterly bland and bored the boy looked. His fist was outstretched, as if he had just thrown a punch, but that was impossible. There was no way anyone could punch so hard that they created a gust of wind that strong from the effort alone.

And why was there a gash in the jumpsuit's arm?

XxX

Elsewhere the Immortal Jashin Priest Hidan lay completely defeated on the ground.

Or rather, his head did. The rest of his body lay splattered across the ravaged remains of what used to be a clearing. Now, however, it was a destroyed pockmark spanning several miles.

Hidan's head coughed, drawing power from lungs that no longer existed. "How… what the fuck was that?"

The priest had attempted to slice into the boy. He had a quota for blood each day, damn it. That stupid little blond boy would fulfill that quota and everything would be fine.

Hidan was in such a good mood, that he might have even responded to those Akatsuki jerks.

Best of all, the boy seemed to even understand the importance of his most important vigil. The little blond bastard held out his hand at Hidan's demand of blood. Hidan had smiled viciously. Perhaps he might not kill the boy after all. It was okay to leave subjects _mostly_ dead.

So he raised his three pronged scythe and cackled as he attempted to bisect the boy's arm.

Hidan was not prepared to see his scythe shatter against the boy's arm. It had cut through the boy's jumpsuit well enough, but against his arm it faltered.

"W-what?" Hidan asked, eyes wide and voice failing him.

The boy, instead of being surprised, looked disappointed. He had looked to his ripped jumpsuit top and frowned. He poked and rubbed at the place where the wound should have been and seemed genuinely disappointed that there was none there.

"So I don't get to see my blood today. That is fine, I was busy anyway."

Hidan had sputtered. He tried to talk, but the boy beat him to it.

"Hey, crazy guy. Do you happen to know where the Land of Waves is?"

Hidan didn't, but he had grunted and said that he would tell the boy if he could beat him.

Seconds later, and Hidan was a head lying in a divot.

"Damn it," Hidan cursed. "It's going to be a while before I recover from this one."

Akatsuki would have to wait for his reply.

XxX

Zabuza shrugged, then decided that it didn't matter where the rip came from. Standing up, the Hidden Mist rogue pulled his sword from the ground and pointed it at the young boy standing before him.

"Hey, runt," Zabuza grunted. His voice was deep, and gruffy, and just slightly intimidating. It was a voice he used when confronting children that were swimming in waters far too deep for them. "Were you the one to dispel my Hidden Mist Technique?"

The boy didn't respond, instead looking at his fist. He stared at it blankly, regarding the thing as if it were the first time he had ever seen it. After staring at it for a few seconds, the blond decided that, yes, this was in fact his own fist and let it drop back to his side.

"Yes," the boy responded. He looked at Zabuza with yet another blank expression, then tilted his head as if bored. "I suppose I am."

Zabuza scoffed. The kid "supposes" huh? "Well, I won't lie, that was impressive. I'm not sure of what Wind Technique you used to do it, but you must be pretty skilled in the art in order to make a gust that strong."

The boy tilted his head further.

"Wind Technique? I don't know any Wind Techniques."

Well.

"What do you mean?" Zabuza asked. "Then what do you call what you just did?"

Naruto shrugged. "A punch?"

Zabuza had enough. With a heft of his sword, the rogue ninja dashed forward, his sword held in a double grip behind him. To such an inexperienced brat's eye, Zabuza knew that he was little more than a blur. As his speed carried him over to the boy, Zabuza raised his sword to decapitate the young man.

Then, something curious happened.

Zabuza was on top of the boy. His sword was prepped back and his muscles were tensed to swing. In less then a second, his sword would cleave through both the air and the boy's head, and he could return to eviscerating his real prey.

But there is something to be said about a ninja's instincts. In the world that he lived in, Zabuza had long ago realized that attacks and threats could come from virtually anywhere. Instincts, while often irrational, have saved his life many times in his career as an official ninja and even more in his time as a rogue one. Zabuza learned to trust his instincts implicitly, to the point of almost paranoia.

So when his instincts _screamed_ at him, wailing and crying and begging him to back away from the blond haired boy, he did. In a move completely uncharacteristic to him, he employed every muscle in his body and every ounce of chakra that he could reasonably spare to leap backwards in a single bound.

The boy seemed unaware of Zabuza's problem. He tilted his head and stared at the Mist ninja with obvious confusion.

"Weren't you going to cut me?" the boy asked. His voice was so lackadaisical. As if what he was asking was as common as asking for a glass of water.

"I am, boy. Don't you worry about that," Zabuza responded, but he was nowhere near as calm as his voice made him seem. The hairs on the back of his neck were raised and sweat dripped down his forehead as he tried to contemplate the reason that fear had settled into his bones before he had even swung.

" _Why_ ," Zabuza asked himself. " _Why does this boy frighten me so_?"

Across from him, Zabuza noticed that the boy had no intention to move, instead seeming to be content standing where he was. For some reason, the Copy Ninja behind him was doing the same. Seeing this, Zabuza took some time to look over what he was doing.

He had charged the boy, and for all intents and purposes, it seemed like he was in the clear. The boy would be beheaded and he'd be able to move on.

Then his instincts roared at him, and he had to back off. What was going on with that?

Come to think of it, it happened right before…

Right before the boy looked at him. It was a faint, almost imperceptible thing, but the boy's sky-blue eyes darted over towards his. They made eye contact, and instead of being afraid, like he was supposed to be, the boy was nonplussed. He almost seemed bored.

"So, you're more than you let on," Zabuza grumbled, to which the boy tilted his head more. It was concerning how horizontal his head was.

"I'm just me. I'm Naruto."

Zabuza's eye twitched.

"I'm going to kill you, brat."

Naruto shrugged.

Zabuza responded by bringing his unburdened hand into a hand seal.

"Hidden Mist Technique."

XxX

Kakashi stared at the Rogue Ninja, his Sharingan eye spinning as he took in the scene before him. Zabuza, the man that he himself was having so much trouble with, had retreated so violently from the boy's reaction. While it may have taken the Mist ninja a second to realize what had happened, Kakashi and his increased perception had seen the truth immediately.

Somehow Naruto had _seen_ the man approach. Zabuza was by no means a particularly fast opponent, but he certainly wasn't a slouch. Even to him Zabuza was almost a blur as he darted across the bridge to get the jump on the blond powerhouse.

And Naruto, the little enigma, had his eyes on the man the entire time. His blue orbs tracked the man as he darted back and forth across the bridge. He seemed to not care as Zabuza blurred behind him, but then, at the last second, turned to stare at the Mist ninja as he brought his giant cleaver down.

Naruto had looked bored. As if the entire thing was beneath him. It wasn't even a false bravado, brought upon by shock, that he had seen in so many green ninjas before. This was a genuine disinterest. Naruto looked at the attack and had genuinely seen it as ultimately harmless. So he didn't move.

Sure enough, Zabuza had done it for him.

So Naruto was fine. Kakashi was unsure as to the power of the child, as he was rather elusive in the village, but apparently there was nothing for him to worry about.

Kakashi turned and regarded his students. Naruto could take care of himself.

XxX

Mist started to creep in once more from the sea around the bridge. It settled in fast, quickly blanketing the bridge in a layer of fog, before growing denser and higher. Soon, the bridge was completely covered in the stuff, and vision was all but an impossibility.

Naruto looked down at his fist once more, then raised a blond eyebrow as he regarded it once more.

The Fox enunciated for the contemplative boy. "So your punches can produce gales of wind, huh?" The Fox snorted. "Something like that took me many years to master. It seems that you learned to do it completely by accident."

Naruto nodded. He looked back into the mist that surrounded him and prepared to punch at it again, only for something heavy to hit him and throw him off balance. The power that he was building up was dispelled, and he staggered a bit before righting himself.

Naruto hadn't noticed, but there was a new gash on his jumpsuit.

" **What was that**?" the Fox asked. He couldn't see what was going on outside, not much, but he could tell when his host was feeling that something was off.

"I don't… know…" Naruto whispered. He reared back his arm to toss another punch, only for it to be knocked off course as well. This time the energy hadn't fully dispersed however, and the aftershock of the attack pulsed into the bridged, cracking the stone.

The scattered shards spread far, one such piece piercing the mist and bouncing off of something that was nearly invisible inside of it.

The nearly invisible thing had a gasp of pain, and Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting," Naruto muttered. He reared back his fist once more, and when the invisible blur came in to intercept the attack, he let it knock his attack off course. Prepared this time, Naruto let his attack hit the bridge. The force of the punch shattered the stone, and sent the entire bridge groaning.

The stone splintered and broke off once more. This time many more stone shards scattered in every direction, and the invisible blur was battered by the impromptu attack.

Zabuza, his concentration broken, cursed as his invisibility within the mist faded. Naruto wasted no time upon seeing him, and cocked his fist back.

" **We can't afford to beat around the bush with this one** ," the Fox muttered. " **He intends to wear you down. While I am not sure** _ **exactly**_ **how possible that is, I'd rather not find out.** "

Red chakra bubbled around Naruto's arm, eventually coming to coalesce around his fist. The red chakra shifted and squirmed around the boy's fist, swirling and whirring and becoming very dangerous.

" **Come now, Naruto** …"

Naruto, his punch unknowingly augmented by the Fox's powers, threw his attack with a minimum amount of effort. The attack flew, and while Naruto's actual punch didn't go very far, the effects of it did.

The mist parted under the titanic force of the punch. The ground was cleaved as a fissure was blown into the ground. Trees were uprooted, their roots torn from the ground and left flying in the chaotic windstorm of the displaced air. The sea, not particularly hit by the attack, parted from the ambient force of the blow.

And at the center of it all Zabuza's broken body fell to the ground, only barely saved from total annihilation by the now broken Kubikiribocho.

"… **we have work to do**."

"Serious Series: Serious Punch."

XxX

Kakashi stared in abject terror at the scene before him. He had turned his back for naught a minute before the mist started seeping in again. At first, the one eyed ninja thought that the natural mist of the Land had started to creep back in, but then the fog started to thicken, and before he could do anything the visibility on the bridge was back to near nothingness.

"Shit," Kakashi cursed. He was now mentally kicking himself for allowing the newly minted _Genin_ to face off against an almost legendary ninja. Sure, Naruto was almost stronger than Gai, but that didn't mean anything. He was still green. He was still just a chil—

XxX

Sakura, for the second time in about as many minutes, was forced to her knees. The shockwave from the side of the bridge where Naruto and Zabuza were fighting… well… it exploded. It quite literally exploded as the mist was blown away for a second time.

That wasn't the only thing blown away, however.

A fissure in the ground, small where it started but expanding exponentially outwards from there, went several miles out into the woods. For quite a bit outwards from there, the carnage left debris and desolation everywhere.

For anywhere _inside_ of the fissure, there was nothing but total obliteration.

Sakura, overwhelmed by the attack, could only gape at the large scale destruction.

I mean, sure, she always knew that Naruto was more powerful than they were on an amazing level, but…

What sort of power gap?

XxX

Haku had found it odd that he was knocked out by one earth shaking attack, only to be awakened by another. Getting up slowly, Haku shook off the soreness granted by being _hit with the force of a train_ , and wiped the melting ice shards off his kimono.

He didn't have many valuable possessions. He was allowed to cherish the one expensive thing that he owned.

That in mind, Haku rose gingerly to his feet. His whole body ached, but he still had to make sure that his state of dress was correct. After making sure he was of the correct attire, and ignoring the groans of the unconscious enemies behind him, Haku looked around…

…Only to see that his master lay, crumbled and broken, in a blast cone that spanned out so far into the mainland that he couldn't currently see an end to the destruction.

Anger, despair and rage gave way to a kind of cold, quiet sensation. All thoughts fled from his mind as his body moved without any conscious effort on his part. Haku's hand reached into his expensive dress and removed the ornate needles that lay nestled in the inner breast pocket with a smooth, graceful ease. Taking less than a second to look over them, for they had never been used, Haku was soon in motion.

"Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirror," Haku whispered, his voice as frosty as the ice mirror that appeared before him. It was half formed, and even then melting in places, but it was good enough for his purposes. The masked ninja took a single, sure step inside of it, and then aimed himself at the person standing at the apex of the blast.

At the odd, blond haired orange wearing boy.

The man that was fighting her master, the Copy Ninja if Haku remembered correctly, saw what he was doing and tried to stop him. The man deserved his renown, because he actually made it pretty far before Haku went flying out of his Ice Mirror. No matter how fast the Jonin was, however, meant little once Haku got moving.

As soon as Haku stepped out of his mirror, time seemed to slow down. The world tinted itself blue, and it was like life itself was frozen. The Copy Ninja, his hand outstretched and single red eye opened wide, seemed to freeze in midair as he reached for Haku's mirror.

Haku was far past his position now.

The pink haired girl, the useless one, seemed startled by her master's outburst. She was slower on the uptake, though, and only managed to turn partway to see what was going on.

Haku was past her as well, frozen in a state of confusion as she was.

Haku noted that their target, the Bridge Builder Tazuna, was frozen in time as well without a single means of protection. He could kill him right now, and no one would be the wiser. The needles in his hand were for a specific person, however, so he let free one made of ice. As soon as it left his hand, however, it too slowed to a crawl. It would reach its target eventually.

Finally, Haku zoned in on the object of his newly established hatred. The blond fool, so simple and stupid and _foolish_ , just stood there, fist outstretched, as if what he had just done wasn't the highest form of crime. This stupid, idiotic _child_ would pay for its… miraculous… murder of his master with blood, and it would do so by the weapon that Haku's master had gifted him.

With a swing of his arm, Haku swung the needles clenched between his fingers towards the neck of the soon to be dead blond. The very first lesson that Master Zabuza had taught him was that no one, bar none, had a strong neck when they were unguarded. This child would be the same. The needles, sharp and ornate with engravings of dragons and lions, inched their way closer and closer to the boy's neck.

Haku could almost taste his victory.

Then something peculiar happened.

Haku, the last member of the Yuki Clan, got his speed from judicious use of his Bloodline Limit. Using his ice, Haku was able to almost freeze time and move at ridiculous speeds. While like this, Haku's perception of the world around him was special, and he saw everything as if it were frozen in his ice. Birds seemed to be stuck in midair on their flight, dew would be eternally falling from the pedals of a flower, and even the mist from his master's technique would be suspended in place.

To offset this speed, however, Haku too would have to be moving extremely slowly, at least to his own perception, lest he be out of control every time he used it. To the masked teenager, he was moving as slow as a civilian through sap, even though consciously he knew that he was moving near the speed of light.

Regardless, Haku was currently moving at speeds the human brain couldn't possibly comprehend. The Sharingan, a cheat of an ability even in the ninja world, could only barely keep up with him, and it was for this reason that Haku was certain that he would be fine in his endeavor.

So you can imagine his surprise when the boy, the _blue eyed_ boy that definitely did _not_ have a Sharingan, turned, in real time, to look at him.

"What are you doing?" the boy asked, again, in real time. Haku's mind boggled at the logistics of it. In order to do such a thing with his perception, the boy would have to have been speaking at speeds greater than light.

Haku tried to respond, but even he couldn't get his words out quick enough. The boy didn't seem to particularly mind, though. He just shrugged his shoulders.

Then he _walked around the still airborne Haku_.

"Did you throw that ice needle?" the boy asked. He was somewhere behind Haku, now. Haku couldn't turn to face him fast enough. In fact, his arm was still swinging for neck that was no longer there. "I can't have that. It might hit Sakura, and I'm told that she's funny."

There was a small _clink_ sound that Haku knew from years of experience to be the breaking of ice. His attack was thwarted and—

Wait, how could he hear the ice break when he was travelling faster than sound? How could he hear the boy speak? Even _sound_ was too slow for him right now and yet the boy was talking as if everything was normal.

What was going on?

Amidst Haku's confusion, the blond boy walked back over to where Haku was swinging and placed himself back in the path of Haku's arm. He tilted his neck so that the needles would be able to pierce it better, and then waited.

"I hope for your sake that that actually works," the blond said. "I haven't seen my blood in a while, and that might be the only thing that amuses me enough to spare your life."

Haku, who was used to the overwhelming bloodthirst of his master, felt his own mortality.

XxX

"So we're not talking about it?" Sasuke asked. They were currently sitting around a table in the Bridge Builder's house. Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, had made them all breakfast and they were eating it rather sedately.

"No, we're not," Kakashi replied. He picked up a piece of meat from the communal plate at the center of the table and laid it on top of his rice.

"But… I really think we should. Did you see what happened out there? Naruto _punched_ —"

"We're not talking about it, Sasuke." Kakashi wasn't having any of that, so the table went to silence once more. A few moments passed like this, before Sasuke couldn't take it any more.

"But he _broke_ the woods! I know that we could at least say something about—"

"No." Surprisingly it was Sakura who spoke up about that. "We're not saying anything about it. Anything at all."

"But—" Sasuke started. He was cut off by a surprisingly powerful fist grasping his collar. Before he knew it, he was eye to eye with the unfocused green eyes of his female teammate.

"Sasuke, I know that you were unconscious for most of it, so let me fill you in. I have seen many an insane thing since I was put on this team. I have seen a man eat with a mask on and everyone looking at him, yet no one seeing his face."

Kakashi grunted. Infuriatingly, his food was finished.

"I have seen a boy somehow display every single innate, human emotion incorrectly."

Sai smiled. Something about it was off. No one could tell what, though, and that was the problem.

"I have seen someone prettier than I am be _male_."

Haku, who was tied up in a corner of the house, grunted. "Boys can be pretty too."

Sakura shot him a withering glare. The boy shut up. The pinkette found his reaction satisfying and turned back to her teammate.

"I have seen many a mind boggling thing, and yet I had still come out sane. What happened on that bridge today breaks even _my_ suspension of disbelief, and as such, I need some time to cope. You will give me that, or so help me, I will make you _wish_ that you were in that crater when it exploded.

Sasuke, smartly, shut up once more, and the room devolved back into silence once again.

There was a scream of pain outside.

"Can you guys just tell me why we're letting Naruto deal with Gato and his men, then?" Sasuke asked. There was a collective shrug, and it was actually the Bridge Builder's grandson, a boy by the name of Inari, who responded.

"Well, we were prepared to fight them, me and the other townsfolk, but your friend just got this look on his face when he saw them and ran off. He said something about 'finally finding bandits' and 'real adventure' and barreled right into them." Inari then looked down at his food. He picked at it a bit before continuing. "After seeing the blast area, none of us had it in us to stop him."

There was another scream outside. Seeing as the team had left Naruto at the bridge, which was several miles away from where they currently were, this was impressive.

"Unless, of course, you feel like telling him to stop."

Sasuke, and the rest of the people at the table, decided to leave Gato's thugs to Naruto.


	6. Chapter 6: The Pieces on a Board

_**To my new fans, I am sorry.**_

 _ **To my old fans, I am also sorry, but you kind of expected this lull in updating.**_

 _ **As I said, while this story does have humor in it, it is not explicitly a humor story. There is quite a bit of seriousness here, and I just thought I would let you know beforehand.**_

 _ **That being said, I hope this chapter serves to let you know where I plan to be going with this psuedo-crossover. I hope that you enjoy.**_

 _ **As always, please, read and review. I want to grow as I writer and I need you guys to do it.**_

 _ **~Redyoshi14**_

* * *

The four members of Team Seven moved in relative silence through the forest. Kakashi, of course, was taking point, making sure to keep his normal eye open and alert, in turn keeping so that there were no untoward threats to harm the rest of his team.

Not like there was anything even remotely foolhardy enough to attack them as they were now.

"Naruto," Sakura said, her voice being barely a whisper. "How far does this crater go?"

The blonde-haired boy shrugged. He shifted the package he had on his back, before keeping pace.

Sakura, long used to the quiet boy by now, nodded her head. She stared ahead, keeping her green eyes on the horizon. "I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to walk, and I refuse to do anything else until I get home and have a long nap."

The group then continued to walk in silence, all while skirting along the edge of the crater that Naruto had made in his fight with Zabuza. It coincidentally ran along most of their path back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Behind Kakashi was Naruto, walking without a care in the world. Behind even him was the three official members of Team Seven.

They were rather quiet for the trip.

"This… is much farther than I thou—"

Sakura's hand lashed out. She held a finger to Sasuke's lips and prevented him from talking.

"I am walking, Sasuke. I refuse to do anything else until I get home and have a long nap."

Sasuke nodded.

XxX

It wasn't long until Team Seven returned to the village. Getting through the gates was somewhat harder, what with Naruto's package, but overall the process was simple.

Sakura quickly outpaced her team. She turned immediately and regarded the boys. "Not that I didn't have an immense amount of fun on our first mission outside of the village, but I'm going to be spending some time alone with my family."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, while Naruto tilted his head. They were confused but decided that discretion would be the better road to take.

"You take whatever time you need," Kakashi said. He turned to the other members of his squad. "Let's go, boys."

Kakashi set off, and the other two boys followed him. Sai, however, stayed behind. He stared at Sakura for a moment, before smiling.

"Are you taking time off in order to get away from the oddity that is our team?"

Sakura sighed. Sai just had to be the one to bring up what everyone else seemed to implicitly get. She pinched the bridge of her nose in order to stave off the coming headache.

"Got it in one, ace."

XxX

The Third Hokage was a worldly old man. He had knowledge and wisdom beyond even his impressive years and had likely forgotten more than most people would ever know. As such, he was a man who would quickly notice trends, and react accordingly.

A trend that he had recently noticed was that Naruto tended to do things that would boggle minds.

"Naruto," the Hokage started. His question was on the tip of his tongue, but one look at the blonde's blank face told him all that he needed to know on how that question was going to be answered. Instead, he directed the question to another. "Kakashi, why is there a young man tied up and strapped to Naruto's back?"

Kakashi, who was doing his best to ignore the situation, tore his attention away from his book. "That's his package," Kakashi answered, as if what he said was as commonplace as the weather.

"And why does he have such a package?" the Hokage asked.

Kakashi shrugged. This time he did not look away from the book. "He said that he wanted it. I couldn't find it in me to say no."

The Hokage was at a loss for words. "You were his Jonin commander. You had operational authority."

"To be fair, Lord Hokage, no one ever told me that."

"He's a _genin_ ," the Hokage stressed. "And a child to boot. Why would you ever assume that he would have any sort of equal status to yourself?"

In response Kakashi's eye trailed over to the blonde kid. He stood motionless and quiet in the middle of the room and did not speak unless addressed.

"I remembered what happened to Gai."

The Hokage couldn't bring himself to argue that point.

"Regardless, what's happening here is an extreme violation of protocol. We do not let random individuals into the village without going through the proper regulations. And we _definitely_ do not kidnap them without reason!" The Hokage rubbed at his temple. "How did you even get him past the gate?"

It was Sasuke's turn to speak up. "Naruto spoke to them."

The Hokage's old, tired eyes darted to the last Uchiha. "And what exactly did he say?"

"If I remember correctly," Sasuke started, "he said that 'this is his package, and he wanted to keep it,' sir."

The Hokage turned back to Kakashi. "And that worked?"

Kakashi nodded. "The guards couldn't find it in themselves to stop him."

The Hokage rolled his eyes. As usual, it appeared that he would have to take matters into his own hands. "Naruto," the old man started. "You can't just kidnap people."

Naruto, his face once again blank, just shrugged. "I didn't kidnap him. He's my package."

Haku, tied and gagged on the blonde's back, tried to talk, but the bandages in his mouth made that a difficult endeavor. The Third Hokage just sighed.

"You can't make random people into your package. That's very frowned upon."

Naruto tilted his head. "But why? He tried to kill me, so he's an enemy."

"He what now?"

"Haku was an enemy ninja."

The Hokage turned on Kakashi. "You let him bring an enemy shinobi into the village?"

Kakashi, finally fed up with the questioning, closed his book. "If you can take the boy from him, then by all means, punish me."

The Hokage looked back at Naruto. The blonde was clutching the enemy shinobi to his chest now, almost like a teddy bear. Said enemy shinobi looked only a little perturbed.

The Hokage sighed. "I'll summon Gai."

XxX

Sasuke rubbed his eyes as he exited the Hokage Tower. Faintly, in the distance, he could hear the cries of youth as Gai tried to overcome the monster that was Uzumaki Naruto.

" _Come, Young Naruto! I have been training hard for our rematch! Gate of Wonder: Open!_ "

Sasuke braced himself as an earthquake bled through the local area. A supersonic boom then rang out, signaling the clash between the Green Beast and Naruto.

The two were likely far away, but even now Sasuke could imagine Naruto's face. The boy would be bored, incredibly so, as he humored one of the few people to ever even slightly push him.

With a sigh, Sasuke returned to his feet and set off to his home. Ever since the massacre of his clan by his now estranged brother, he was living in an apartment complex.

"I was useless," the last Uchiha grumbled. His fists clenched at his sides, and he could already feel his nails making indents in his palms. "I thought that I was getting stronger… but I'm not. That… that _package_ , made me look stupid. He made me look _weak_."

Sasuke then looked up. In the air, over the skies of the Hidden Leaf Village, shockwaves rang out from invisible clashes. Naruto and Gai were moving too fast to see. Sasuke squinted, then activated his Sharingan, only to be able to see the barest of blurs.

"They're… so fast." Sasuke gaped.

Directly above him, Naruto and Gai exchanged a particularly strong blow, and the two recoiled from the force of their strikes. Stuck midair from the momentum, Sasuke could now see the unapologetic grin on Gai's face as he reveled in the action.

" _Young Naruto! Our Honorable Lord Hokage has asked me to bring you in, and I shall!_ " Gai yelled. Even though he was so very far above the kingdom, his voice was loud enough to be heard throughout.

Naruto didn't respond. He adjusted a very much unconscious Haku on his back, before repositioning himself. Once they had recovered, the two superhumans _kicked the air_ and were little more than blurs once more.

Sasuke clenched his teeth. This was the level of power he needed to reach, _at a minimum_ , in order to avenge his clan. With a deep breath, the young Uchiha deactivated his Sharingan.

He needed to be better, and he had an idea where he would need to start.

XxX

"Honey, are you alright?" Sakura's mom, Mebuki, asked. Her daughter had returned home not five hours ago, and all she had done since then was lie her head down on the kitchen counter.

"I'm fine, mom." Sakura answered. Her voice was muffled by both her arms and the wood of the counter. "I just have a really, really bad headache."

Mebuki hummed. Turning her attention back to the dishes, she attempted to finish the house chores. Sakura wasn't around to do them anymore now that she was busy with ninja stuff. Mebuki knew nothing about it, so she decided to let Sakura rest.

That she was resting for so long was worrying.

"Are you sure that it's just a headache, dear?" Mebuki had had some terrible headaches in her days. They were especially horrible around certain times of the month. Nothing was this serious, though. Sakura hadn't even said a word until just now.

Her daughter sighed. Finally, she lifted her head from the table to stare at her mom. Mebuki almost gasped when she saw her daughter's eyes. The normally vibrant green orbs were blank, almost desolate.

"Mom. What's the… oddest… thing that you have ever seen?"

Mebuki wanted to respond with the fact that her daughter had naturally bright pink hair despite the fact that neither her nor her husband did but decided not to. Sakura continued anyway.

"Have you ever seen someone punch a fissure into the ground?"

Mebuki hesitated. That wasn't… something that was normal? The things that ninjas did or could do was certainly never normal.

"I'm… pretty sure that Mistress Tsunade of the Sannin could do such a thing."

"No, no," Sakura said, her head hurting all the more for reliving the event. "Not punching the ground. He didn't do that. He punched at the air, and the force behind it was so strong that the ground was affected. Have you ever seen that?"

Mebuki, the smart and scientifically gifted woman that she was, frowned. "That's impossible, dear. The logic behind how much force that would need is staggering. The person throwing the punch would quite literally be evaporated under the energy and heat required to throw it."

Finally Mebuki got a response out of her daughter as Sakura threw her hands in the air. "I know! That's what I said! And yet that's what happened. He punched _at_ a person and destroyed the landscape! For _miles_. It doesn't make any sense!"

Mebuki blanched. "For miles? That's impossible." Mebuki made her way over to her daughter. She placed a hand on Sakura's forehead. It was as warm as she suspected. "You have a fever, honey. I'm sure that's the problem."

Sakura batted her mother's hand away. Her face scrunched up as she scowled at the woman she thought was the person she was closest to. All too suddenly Sakura was realizing that her mother, the woman who used to be her bastion of support, was quickly becoming anything but.

Mebuki still loved her, and wanted what was best for her, of that she was sure. But Sakura could no longer come to her with all of her issues anymore. Sakura was a ninja now, and what was quickly becoming a normal thing to her was a fantastical thing heard of only in legends to her mother.

"No, mom," Sakura started. Her voice was a little shaky, but she hoped that she was controlling it well enough that her mother hadn't noticed. Mebuki already looked scandalized from Sakura's actions. "I think that I might just be a little tired, is all. Is my room clean?"

Mebuki looked concerned, and just the slightest bit confused. Regardless, she nodded her head and turned. "Mostly," she responded. "I hadn't had the chance to change your bedsheets as of yet. Can you wait here until I do?"

"Sure," Sakura said. She tried smiling, but it was at best a weary thing. "I'll just rest here until you're done."

Mebuki smiled back. It, too, wasn't one of her best, but at the very least it seemed like Sakura's mom was appreciative of the gesture. Ever since Sakura started going to the Academy, she was becoming more and more independent. Cleaning Sakura's room was one of the few things that Mebuki could do for her daughter, and Sakura was determined to let her do it.

"I'll be right back," Mebiki said. With a quick shake of her hands the housewife dried herself and made off to prepare her daughter's room for her. Sakura smiled at her until she was effectively out of sight.

Then she collapsed, her energy leaving her. She would drag herself back up from the counter when she heard her mom coming, but for now she would rest.

"Even mom doesn't believe me." Sakura then sighed. In front of her was a plate of toast and eggs that her mother had prepared for her. Team Seven had returned to the Village quite early and had therefore been just in time for breakfast. Sakura hadn't touched it, not even once.

"Maybe I should just start training more," Sakura mumbled. She buried her face in her folded arms. "Naruto and Sasuke and the rest of them are all so much stronger than me. Maybe if I'm stronger, then they'll be forced to believe me. I bet _Ino_ wouldn't be having this much trouble. I bet Ino would be—"

Sakura's voice faded out as her headache worsened. Her eyes drooped, and she slowly fell asleep. She lied there, dozing and calm, until suddenly she twitched. Thinking nothing of it, Sakura let herself fall back to sleep.

In front of her, her eggs levitated just slightly off the counter.

XxX

Gai collapsed, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Sweat dripped down his face like waterfalls, and his eyes drooped every so often.

But in his clutches was the package that his Hokage asked him to get. Gai's smile couldn't be wider.

"Young Naruto! I have done it! This game is mine!"

Naruto, upon hearing Gai, turned and stared at the man. Then he reached for his back and seemed genuinely confused that Haku was no longer there.

The boy then glared at Gai, the action a rare moment of real emotion from him. Naruto pointed, his finger acting as both an accusation and a death toll. With a voice as calm as a lake and as deadly as a guillotine he spoke.

"Mine."

Gai recoiled. For reasons he could not comprehend, he felt as if a rope was tightening around his neck. "Young Naruto, are you—"

Gai didn't finish the statement before Naruto was on top of him.

XxX

Hiashi Hyuuga wasn't a man that was easily surprised. After becoming the head of his clan at twenty-one, the earliest of any clan head in Hyuuga history, he was used to the unusual. He had become quite adept at parsing the extraordinary from the asinine and was as such deemed as one of the most capable leaders his clan had ever produced.

And then Uzumaki Naruto decided to go from brash and annoying to silent and powerful during a single year. Hiashi had heard rumors of him overpowering Might Gai, a man that even he had to admit was strong. It was said that before Naruto even left the Academy he was causing untold destruction.

Hiashi, of course, believed none of this. He was a pragmatic, skeptical man by reputation. It was a reputation well deserved, and thus while everyone else was obviously in awe of the earth-rending, air tearing catastrophe of a fight that was currently happening over the village between Gai and what was supposed to be Naruto, Hiashi was sipping his tea and looking over his clan's financial records.

His silent denial was as strong as his taijutsu.

It was during his most recent denial, the thirty-fourth random earthquake to shake the village that day, that a knock came to his door. Hiashi grunted, a sound that, although low, cut through the silence of his study like a knife. The door opened, his servants knowing his mannerisms, and in stepped a member of the Branch Clan of the Hyuuga.

The Hyuuga clan member bowed deeply at the waist upon entering. "Lord Hiashi, I apologize for disturbing you, but you have a visitor."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow, but otherwise kept his face completely passive. "And you allowed him entry? Is it the Hokage?"

The Branch member, to his credit, didn't quake under his leader's annoyance. He simply swallowed his trepidation and continued. Hiashi was proud. That was how a true Hyuuga should be.

"It… is not. But I figured that it was still a person of interest. I would never disturb you for anything else."

Hiashi let his surprise wash over him. This particular branch member was the most trusted of his attendants. His talents were quite honestly wasted in the lesser half of the clan, but that was the circumstances of one's birth. Regardless, he was still quite talented, and had a judgement process similar to Hiashi himself. Therefore Hiashi trusted that whoever this person was would probably be at the very least entertaining.

"Who is it, then?" Hiashi asked. The man, recognizing the acceptance, allowed himself to straighten.

"It is the last of the Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha, my lord."

This time Hiashi let his surprise show in the ever so slight raise of both of his eyebrows. Now that was interesting. "You may let him enter."

The Branch member bowed once more and let himself out. Hiashi had just enough time to put away his paperwork before another knock rapped on his door. This time Hiashi called out that it was okay to enter.

Sasuke Uchiha stalked into the room like a shadow, and instantly Hiashi was on guard. This didn't feel like a child he was dealing with. This felt like a seasoned politician. His eyes were sharp, too sharp, and Hiashi knew that he was a man on a mission.

Sasuke sat at Hiashi's table opposite him. There was no pomp or ceremony in his actions, only a calm efficiency. "Lord Hyuuga," the boy said. Two simple words, and yet so calculated. The boy was letting Hiashi, as was correct as he was in the Hyuuga's house, start the conversation.

"Uchiha," Hiashi responded, acknowledging the boy before him. Well, he shouldn't refer to him as a boy. He was a ninja now, despite being the lowest tier. The boy was expected to be able to kill, and thus was an adult. "What brings you to my residence?"

The young man seemed to be contemplating what to say, but Hiashi had to give him props for not breaking eye contact. The silence stretched on for a couple seconds more, Hiashi calmly weathering the social faus pas. Just before it reached a critical point, however, another freak earthquake rumbled through the village.

Hiashi calmly ignored it with another sip of tea. The Uchiha did not.

"There, that," Sasuke said. He pointed up, towards the ceiling, but Hiashi knew that he was referring to what was happening outside. "Currently my teammate is outside fighting off one of the strongest people I have ever seen."

"Your teammate?" Hiashi asked. It was common knowledge who inherited the very cursed role of the new Team Seven. On one hand Hiashi was upset because Team Seven's notorious reputation as being bad luck made it hard to play coy. On another hand Hiashi was happy that he was one more generation away from the bad luck that being on that team afforded.

Being Minato's teammate was never a boring time. It was also rarely a painless time.

The look on the young Uchiha's face made it clear that he was annoyed at Hiashi's game. Regardless, he barely let that irritation show on his face. Instead he huffed and continued as if he believed Hiashi's words.

"Naruto Uzumaki. He's above the village fighting Gai."

It was around now that the branch attendant returned. In his hands he held a silver platter with an ornate tea set perched on top. Hiashi noticed that it wasn't quite the tea set they brought out when important guests, such as Fire Country nobility, visited, but it still wasn't the worst of what they had. That the attendant even deigned to bring any spoke volumes. Maybe this was more important than he thought.

Sasuke accepted the tea in stride, and sipped quietly while the Branch member refilled Hiashi's cup. They let the silence reign while they enjoyed the tea. After a few minutes Hiashi decided to continue the conversation.

"Yes, I have heard that Gai has moved on to combatting a certain ninja. What does that have to do with the nature of your visit, if I may ask?"

Sasuke placed his teacup, emptied but not drained, on the associated platter. "Do you know the nature of our previous mission?"

Hiashi shook his head. "No, I wouldn't know the nature of a random Genin team's mission."

Hiashi knew exactly what happened on that mission. Team Seven's first mission out of the village was almost always a point of discussion. Hiashi remembered his first mission out of the village.

The less could be said about it the better.

Sasuke continued on, ignoring the look on Hiashi's face. It was one of extreme discomfort. "We came across the Demon of the Hidden Mist. Zabuza Momochi was our enemy."

And quite a formidable enemy, indeed. Hiashi was uncertain of even his own ability to overcome such an opponent.

With practiced grace, Hiashi turned to sip from his tea once more. "Incredible. Seeing as how you're here I can assume that you all overcame him? Kakashi has proven his ability once mo—"

"Kakashi wasn't the one to beat him. It was Naruto."

Hiashi glided over that comment like a professional ice skater. "And you, you managed to defeat his apprentice, no?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "For someone who didn't know about the mission, it's amazing that you know about Zabuza's apprentice when I hadn't even brought him up."

Hiashi didn't deign to acknowledge that statement. Sasuke continued.

"But no, I hadn't done that either. It was Naruto who beat him as well."

Hiashi, who was desperately trying to hang onto his sanity, gently placed his cup down and reached for the tea kettle.

"Look, Lord Hyuuga, the simple matter is that Naruto is strong. He's stronger than most anyone I know. He's even stronger than our sensei, though Kakashi won't admit it. Right now he's outside sparring Gai to a standstill and he probably isn't even going to be tired for it. He's stronger than me, than Gai and probably even Kakashi. He has pure strength that rivals even a Hokage, and maybe…"

Sasuke trailed off. He looked as if the next words would truly pain him to even say.

"… he might even be strong enough to beat Itachi."

Hiashi was truly surprised, for once. As long as he'd known the Uchiha, they were never able to admit inferiority.

"And what does that have to do with me, Uchiha?"

Sasuke, his eyes downcast, brought his gaze up to meet the Hyuuga leader. His onyx eyes turned red and, reflexively, veins appeared around Hiashi's. The two mighty doujutsu users stared each other down, both tense as they awaited the other's move.

"I can never overpower Naruto in pure strength. I know that now, after seeing him punch a hole into the countryside."

Hiashi's eye twitched.

"I can grow stronger, more and more with no end in sight, but no matter what I do I can never grow stronger than that monstrosity out there. But where I cannot outpace him in power, perhaps I can in skill." Sasuke then looked at Hiashi. He deactivated his Sharingan. "There is no one more proficient in skill in the village than you. You will be my teacher in skill and martial arts. With your teaching I can outpace Naruto, and with that, my treacherous brother."

"And why should I teach you?" Hiashi asked. "You have given me no reason to believe in you. The Hyuuga techniques are a closely guarded secret, taught only to the members of our clan. Even if I were to teach you, it would only be a shadow of it's true potential. The Gentle Fist can only be properly used alongside the Byakugan."

Sasuke smirked. "I believe my Sharingan can make up for the loss."

Hiashi frowned. "I refuse."

"And in doing so you lose the chance to prove to the entire village the superiority of the Gentle Fist style."

Hiashi frowned harder. "Continue."

Sasuke, seeing his chance leaned forward. His grin was predatory; very thin and showing far too many teeth. "Everyone already knows that the Gentle Fist is the best taijutsu style in Konoha. What they _think_ they know is that the Gentle Fist is from the efforts of the Byakugan. They think it is a style that is solely based on a very specific bloodline. A 'cheat' ability, if you will."

Hiashi huffed. "And would they be wrong? It is a fighting style made for the Hyuuga, by the Hyuuga. If there was a more focused fighting style, I haven't heard of it. Why should I care what others think of my family's ability? However specialized it is, it works."

"Well, yes," Sasuke acceded. "My apologies then, Lord Hiashi. I had come here expecting a man of ambition. If you are content with where you are, then I see no need to continue this conversation." Sasuke then rose. "By your leave."

Hiashi scowled. "Sit, Uchiha. What do you mean?"

Sasuke stopped moving but didn't quite sit. "I mean that the Uchiha are on the rise again. Right now, it is just me, but in the future, after I've surely beaten Itachi, it will be much more than just me. I will have an entire clan again, strong and serving Konoha, and we will all be in debt to you. Right now, Lord Hyuuga, you are sitting on the precipice of history. This could be the moment where two of the greatest clans of Konoha join hands to achieve a taijutsu style beyond what the world has ever seen. Or it could be a lost opportunity. The choice lies with you."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed, though he did contemplate the thought. He couldn't allow the Hyuuga techniques to fall into the hands of another clan, but it wasn't like there weren't emulators of it already. Like he said, the Hyuuga fighting style had always been a tradition of the clan, and as such was barely changing. It was around for generations. There were bound to be those that both attempted to copy and counter it, with limited success.

This however? This would be a tradition breaking, near unheard of precedence. Hiashi would be agreeing to outright teach this outsider the strengths, and thereby weaknesses, of his clan's primary means of combat. It was a dangerous, even risky move.

But it was one that held merit.

"And if I do choose to help you. What do I gain?"

Sasuke smiled. "You were around far longer than I, Lord Hiashi. You have probably seen the Uchiha in action. We have a fighting style as well."

Hiashi allowed a smirk to cross his features. The boy was interesting. "It is a fighting style of trickery and thievery. You steal the techniques of your opponent mid battle and use it against them. Effective, but underhanded, and hardly something that we can use. We do not have the capabilities of the Copy Wheel Eye."

"True, but there is more to it than just that. We do copy the techniques of our enemies, but no castle stands without a firm foundation. You can't stand against an enemy with no leg to fight on."

"Oh?" Hiashi asked. "And what fighting style do you purport this to be?"

To this, Sasuke retrieved a scroll from his pocket. It bore the Uchiha crest on it. He placed it on the table and slid if over to the Hyuuga lord.

"I transcribed the most basic katas from the Uchiha 'Interceptor Style' taijutsu. You may keep that. Call it a gesture of good faith."

Hiashi wasted no time in opening and looking over the scroll. Like Sasuke said, it was nothing but the most basic of forms, but what it did show told enough.

"So it is a style of evading and redirecting attacks," Hiashi started. He rolled the scroll up and put it to the side. "I'm assuming so that you can survive long enough pick apart the enemy's fighting style."

"Yes," Sasuke confirmed. "But it is also so I can pick apart the enemy. It is a strong, mostly defensive style that allows an Uchiha to make use of our genjutsu and ninjutsu more effectively. Admittedly, we Uchiha are comparatively weak in taijutsu, however small that comparison is. If I want to overcome Naruto, however…"

An explosion ripped through the skies of the Hidden Leaf Village. Wind chimes located just outside the window of Hiashi's study rattled violently.

Hiashi steadfastly ignored it.

Sasuke did not.

"…I can't be weak in any way."

Hiashi hummed. He sipped from his tea. "I see, but that all fails to mention how this style would help me. The Hyuuga do well enough dodging and punishing attacks. I might even say better. How does your style benefit my own?"

"In the simpler aspects, Lord Hyuuga."

"Oh?"

"Imagine this," Sasuke started. "You are fighting multiple opponents, some are armed and some are attacking in the back with ninjutsu and weapons. This is a difficult situation for you, is it not?"

Hiashi nodded, deciding not to bring up the Heavenly Rotation.

"Imagine if you had the Interceptor Style. You could use the Hyuuga's smooth and fluid movements with the Uchiha's direct and disarming specifics to not only dodge the attacks, but turn their own against them. You combine the fluidity of one style with the precise, striking deadliness of the other. Not bad, no?"

Hiashi nodded. "Your words have merit, young man." Sasuke felt his hopes rise. "But you haven't sold me."

Sasuke frowned. He opened his mouth, ready to argue more, when Hiashi held up a hand.

"But you have intrigued me. At the very least, you have impressed me with your diplomacy." Hiashi then reached for the Uchiha scroll. He held it aloft in one hand. "At the very least, I owe you for your good faith. I will help you incorporate at least this much of our style into yours, while you teach some of yours to ours. Depending on how well it goes, we will proceed from there. That is fair, is it not?"

Sasuke, once more finding hope in a lost situation, smiled. His professional exterior broke for the first time that meeting, and Hiashi found himself grinning, just a little, at the unabashed childish glee that shone through on the young man's face.

Sasuke schooled his features as best he could before responding. "Yes, Lord Hyuuga. That is more than fair." The Uchiha then rose from his seat. "We can cover the specifics of our meeting at a later date. It is getting rather late, and I suppose that you want your rest."

Hiashi nodded, amused at what he now realized was the young man's utmost best at professionalism. He watched as the Uchiha made his way to the door, before calling out.

"Uchiha," Hiashi said. "One last question. What do you intend to call this style?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I didn't assume that you would let the naming of our fused style fall to me."

"Humor me."

Sasuke, obviously not expecting this, hummed. He turned, having been facing the door, and said.

"For now, how about we call it the Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist?"

XxX

Gai collapsed just outside the Hokage Tower. Haku, somehow still bound despite the supersonic clash he just survived, fell out of the Green Beast's tired, limp hands.

He was immediately picked up by a nonplussed Naruto.

"Mine."

Upstairs, looking out the window of the tower, the Third Hokage sighed deeply.


	7. Chapter 7: Pieces Coming Together

_**This is the earliest I've ever updated.**_

 _ **Shoutout to JSakurazaki. That's kind of where I was going. Naruto is Saitama. The rest will be answered later on**_

 _ **As usual, thanks for the comments Sagar Hussain**_

 _ **And to the rest of you, thank you for your continued support. I am reading your comments, even if I don't directly respond to all of them.**_

 _ **Continue letting me know how I'm doing.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

Hinata Hyuuga, the failed heiress of the Hyuuga clan, was walking down the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village. It was a good day, with nice weather and decent humidity. Despite being called the "Land of Fire" it was actually a pretty rainy area, with decent periods of constant rain that fed the abundant forests surrounding the village.

Luckily it wasn't one of those rainy periods, and the sun was shining brightly directly overhead and there was nary a cloud in sight.

With a smile on her face Hinata Hyuuga roamed down the street, her feet on the ground but her head somewhere else. Not for the first time was she thinking about her favorite person. Not for the first time was she wondering how Naruto Uzumaki was doing.

"I hope he's been eating," Hinata pondered. Reflexively she clenched her hand, reminiscent of the way she used to do when she made cinnamon buns back in the Academy. "I'm not around to feed him anymore. He might forget."

True enough, back in the Academy, Hinata had befriended the blonde enigma. Back then she was so shy, and couldn't bring herself to talk to anyone. Then Naruto walked in, and suddenly Hinata felt invigorated. It was like he was a sun, projecting light and energy and all the nutrients Hinata needed to grow. Naruto was strong, he was powerful, and he was everything that Hinata wanted to be.

Hinata was, of course, smitten immediately.

So, now smitten, Hinata did something very uncharacteristic of her. She waved to the boy. He did not wave back. Hinata felt her spirits crash to the ground and shatter in a million pieces. It was a stupid idea. She never should have tried to make friends. Melancholy, the young Hyuuga Academy student rushed out into the yard to have her food under the tree on the hill overlooking the Academy yard.

She had maybe three seconds to herself before someone was standing before her.

Hinata jumped, almost upending the contents of her bento everywhere. With a trained, albeit slightly flawed, Hyuuga grace, Hinata managed to catch everything before looking up to this mysterious person in front of her. Whoever it was, they weren't there a couple of seconds ago, and certainly hadn't walked up to her. They just… appeared.

Looking up, Hinata was surprised to see a blonde haired, blue eyed cutie looking down on her. His eyes, they were emotionless, but not cold. Instead they seemed confused, as if they weren't quite sure what they were looking at.

Naruto Uzumaki, the boy who rebuffed her advances, tilted his head. His nose scrunched, as if he had smelled something unpleasant, and for a second Hinata thought that she had somehow messed up yet again.

Then the boy extended his hand. He did an action that looked like an attempt at a smile, but he gave up on that endeavor rather quickly.

"Kurama said that it is polite to respond to people when they say 'hi'," he said. He then scowled, but for some reason Hinata felt like he wasn't scowling at her. "But I already know that. I just didn't want to say hi to you."

Hinata frowned, and she could feel the tears coming to her eyes. Even Naruto didn't want to be friends with her? But she had only been in class for a day!

Naruto then shook his head. "No, that was the wrong way to say that, I think. I don't want to say hi to you because I don't like talking to people, not because there's something wrong with you. I don't even know you, yet."

Hinata felt… a little relieved at that? She pulled her hand into the sleeve of her jacket and tried to use it to wipe at the tears before they fell. Before she could, however, Naruto's hand zipped out and grabbed it.

"Kurama says that I should shake your hand and introduce myself properly. He says that it's the proper thing to do, so I'm going to do it." He then shook her hand vigorously, though awkwardly. "There, it's done."

Hinata, thoroughly confused by what was happening, was too distracted to try to stop the tear from falling from her eyes. For some reason Naruto winced, as if someone was yelling into his ears.

"Kurama says that I should apologize to you, and that making girls cry is bad. But I know that, too." The boy then looked around. "You, uh, wanna get some ice cream, or something?"

Hinata, now too confused to be shy, looked down at her bento. Her next words more fell out of her mouth than were actually said. "But I'm still eating lunch. You're not supposed to eat dessert before you finish your meal."

And it was like a lightbulb went off in Naruto's head. His eyes widened considerably and he collapsed on his knees. His face darted forward, uncomfortably close to Hinata's, before his words were blurted from his mouth.

"Really? I didn't know that. I don't know a lot of things about the way that people are supposed to act."

And just like that, Hinata's fear and shyness bled away to an almost motherly concern.

"You don't?" the heiress asked. "Didn't your mother teach you how to act?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't have a mom. I never did."

Hinata didn't know what to say to that. It took her a couple of minutes to respond.

"Then what about your dad?" she asked. "Didn't he teach you?"

"Dad?" Naruto asked. "What is that? Can I eat it?"

It was horrifying, how hard it was to tell if Naruto was joking. Once more Hinata was left speechless.

"Wh—" Hinata started. "Would you like me to teach you? How to act like a person, that is…" Hinata asked. She wasn't prepared for Naruto's enthusiastic reply. It was the most emotion she had ever seen from him before and since.

"Yes, I would!"

And from that moment onwards, Hinata attempted to teach Naruto how to be a person. It was a grueling and difficult endeavor, and sometimes Hinata was certain that all of her efforts had been in vain.

Then Naruto gifted her a flower one day, because he remembered that it was good to give people things that they liked whenever you were grateful for the things they did. Hinata's heart fluttered, and she didn't know whether she was happy that a boy gifted her something, or proud that her little caterpillar was growing up into a social butterfly.

That was all months ago now. Naruto was off on his own, and Hinata only ever got to see him in glimpses around the village. He looked to be doing alright, with his usual boundless energy, but she still worried.

That being said, Hinata wasn't the only one with an influence on her peer. Naruto had an influence on her as well, with one of the benefits being towards her confidence.

" _Well, maybe if you were just a bit more forceful, people would stop picking on you._ " _Naruto then turned back to the cinnamon bun that Hinata made for him_. " _Kiban used to say that people only pick on you because they can. You should not let them do it._ "

And from that day forward Hinata was a little more forceful. Just a little. She beat her younger sister Hanabi in a spar, like she always could but was too afraid to, and instantly her standing in her family was raised.

" _Maybe you aren't a lost cause_ ," Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata's father, said while stroking his chin. " _Maybe…_ "

Yes, Naruto was a positive influence on her as well. He was also a negative influence.

" _Hinata, what's wrong?_ "

" _Oh, nothing, Naruto. I just wish that the mountain range was slightly to the side, sometimes. Relaxing in the sun during the break would be so much better if the sun could actually shine on us, and not the mountain_."

Naruto then got up and _moved the mountain_. On that day Hinata learned that the world didn't make sense sometimes.

Which was why when a creature, seemingly made of a viscous, sentient goo burst out of the alleyway she was about to walk by, Hinata barely blinked.

"Oh," was all she got out before the creature lunged at her.

XxX

Sakura was a genius. This was apparent from the moment she learned how to read at two, and was made doubly so when she was accepted to the Ninja Academy as a civilian at age four. While not practically gifted, Sakura grasped theoretical and academic concepts rather quickly, and could figure out conjecture with just a couple hours of exposure.

Sakura was a genius. So when she was presented with a gift that, as far as she knew, no one else had, she started to dissect it with almost no hesitation.

"I wonder what the limit is," Sakura pondered. She twirled her finger, and the empty glass of water twirled in the air as well, enchanted by Sakura's abilities. "Can I only lift small things, or can I lift horses? Can I lift houses?"

Sakura's mind drifted, and with it, her concentration on the glass. The cup wobbled in the air for a bit, before dropping suddenly. Before it hit the ground, however, Sakura's ninja instincts kicked in. Her hand zipped out and grabbed at the cup, rescuing it from a shattering fate.

"It requires more concentration than I thought," Sakura pondered. "But I suppose that's a fair tradeoff for such a low chakra consumption rate." The pinkette then placed a finger on her chin. "I wonder if this is a dormant Bloodline Limit within my family, or is this something that has awakened within me?"

Whatever the reason, Sakura's thoughts were plagued by yet more thoughts, none of which were her own.

"Is that…" Sakura started. She leaned closer to the window, but she wasn't listening with her ears. She was listening to the thoughts that were screaming to her from elsewhere. "Is someone being kidnapped?"

After listening very hard, something that was nigh impossible considering the jumbling thoughts that were floating through the air from the many villagers, Sakura could confirm that, yes, someone was being abducted.

Naturally, Sakura's first instinct was to sit back down. She lived in a ninja village. It wasn't too odd for one of the roaming ninja to be assigned with a less than savoury retrieval quest. After listening for just a little bit more, however, Sakura could tell something was odd.

"Is the person being… apathetic?"

Now, this revelation was especially astonishing to Sakura for one very important reason. The pure apathy she was sensing was borderline ridiculous, especially considering the fact that they were in a hostage situation. True enough, the other person involved in the kidnapping—the kidnapper—was incredibly confused as to what was going on.

There were only three people in the village who could possibly be so apathetic to a hostile situation. Sakura immediately crossed Naruto off the list, however. There was no way in hell anything was successfully kidnapping the boy who could singlehandedly change the geography. If he was being kidnapped, then it was because he was letting it happen, and as such was no cause for concern.

Ironically, it was for the same reason that Sakura crossed Kakashi off the list. The man would be more bemused than anything that someone was attempting to kidnap him. And even if he was being successfully kidnapped, Sakura felt no pressing need to go save him.

The man, skilled as he was, was a raging pervert and a huge asshole. He could sort himself out of whatever mess he was in.

So that only left one option.

"Ugh, Hinata. How do you keep finding yourself in these situations?" Sakura asked while trying to staunch the coming headache. Of _course_ it was Hinata who was in trouble. Ever since she had gotten involved with who Sakura was coming to acknowledge as the most insane person she would ever meet, Hinata had started to become desensitized to the supernatural things that happened around her.

Of course she would react to being kidnapped with boredom. She had seen a boy move a mountain for her, and not in the romantic sense.

With a sigh, Sakura rose from her seat and got herself dressed. If she didn't intervene, then the poor girl would probably be halfway to the Cloud Village before she realized that she was in danger.

Right before she left, however, Sakura had a thought. Turning away from her door and towards her bedroom window, Sakura let a grim smile crawl onto her face.

"Well, there's no real harm in trying, is there?"

And like that the girl made her way over to the window and pried it open. Cool air rushed into her stuffy room, buffeting her face and rustling her long pink hair. With a thought to cut it when she got home, Sakura flung herself out of the window.

A sense of euphoria overcame her as she fell from the second story of her house. Sakura splayed her limbs outwards as she fell, reveling in the freedom of the weightless experience. The ground approached her quickly, but Sakura never once feared for her safety.

Sure enough, a light blue film of energy engulfed her before she hit the ground. Now suspended in place by her own telekinetic powers, Sakura let out an initially unsteady laugh. She soon broke down into hysterics, however, marveling at the usage of her powers.

"I have so much to go over," she pondered, and almost let her mind roam. "But first, I need to save Hinata."

And with that thought in mind, Sakura willed herself through the air to where she thought she sensed her friend.

XxX

Sasuke slid forward, his moves more of a graceful dance than a lunge. Quickly he advanced towards the stationary form of Hiashi Hyuuga. The man's face was carved from stone as he waited in one of the Hyuuga's standard Gentle Fist forms. Though Sasuke's own stance was similar, his was more of a combination of styles: the Flowing Water Rock Crushing Fist.

"This is it!" Sasuke grunted, his voice as much of a yell as was allowed in the Hyuuga household. His arm, bent like a snake, whipped out to strike at the man. At the end of its extension, his own wrist whipped forward as well, prepared to both dodge and redirect. Hiashi's eyes, focused as they were without the Byakugan, narrowed slightly as he waited until the last possible moment.

When that moment came the two, elder and younger, slid into a precise dance. Hiashi moved with the fluidity and grace afforded to a master of the Gentle Fist, while Sasuke moved with a similar grace, though he often shifted into precise strikes and measured redirections.

After about two minutes Sasuke faltered. He overestimated how much he redirected Hiashi's blow and as such was unprepared for the man's spin. That same redirected hand moved with the man, ending in a backhand so strong that the young Uchiha ended up flying through the air.

Hiashi, just barely winded, allowed the Uchiha to rise. Sasuke did so after a short moment and, instead of being upset, schooled his face and bowed.

"It seems that I still don't have the style down, quite yet," Sasuke said. His voice was just barely above a whisper, and his eyes were trained on the floor.

Hiashi allowed a small smirk to grace his lips. "I wouldn't expect you to. You have just barely begun to learn the style, after just having made it. If you had already begun to master it I would fear for the sanctity of all future kunoichi." When Sasuke looked up, confused but not offended, Hiashi continued. "Most experienced female ninja prefer a strong, talented partner. A genius with a knack for creating and mastering fighting styles would be a catch."

Sasuke, noticing the rare but not unwelcome joke from the older man, just smiled. "Perhaps, but I have no interest in that right now. I have to become stronger. Stronger than Naruto, and then Itachi. I have to do my best in order to avenge my clan."

Hiashi hummed. His eyes softened, but not in any way that was immediately obvious. "That is a goal that I can get behind. As clan head, that sentiment would ring true to me if I were in your shoes. Though it may not seem it, I care for all those that call my clan their family."

Sasuke scoffed. "Even those in the Branch Family?"

Hiashi scowled, an action that made Sasuke stiffen all its own. "Yes, Uchiha. Even the branch family. I'm not sure you know, but my brother was in the Branch Family, and I loved him dearly. My uncles and aunts were in the Branch Family, and I loved them as well." Hiashi then breathed deeply, the action calming his nerves. The wrinkles on his face smoothed out, and once more he looked like a porcelain statue.

After a moment of silence the man opened his eyes. He didn't look as fierce, just weary.

"One day, one of my daughters will be in the Branch Family. Do you think I would not love her still?"

Sasuke shook his head. He had hit a nerve and knew when to concede. "I think you would. I apologize, Lord Hyuuga, I did not mean—"

Hiashi waved him off before he could finish. "It is of no matter. Such things are in the past. I'm sure you are as inquisitive as any as to the matters of the Hyuuga clan."

Sasuke nodded, but didn't respond. The room where they were training, Hiashi's personal dojo, once more fell into a silence. After a while Sasuke couldn't hold it anymore and coughed.

"Yes, Uchiha?" Hiashi asked.

"If I may, may I ask a question?"

"Pertaining to what?" Hiashi asked.

"Your clan."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow, but didn't object, so Sasuke took that as his cue to continue.

"If you love your clan so much, then why do you continue to let half of them suffer under the effects of that seal?" Sasuke asked. He had been spending a lot of time around the Hyuuga while he was creating their new, combined style. It was only a given that he would see the seals marring the heads of each Branch Family Hyuuga. "And don't tell me that it's just so you can protect the Byakugan. If that were the case, then even the Main Family would have the marks on their head. There is something deeper there. I can feel it."

Hiashi, not expecting it, allowed his other eyebrow to raise. After a while the man digested the question, and just like that the lines were crossing his face again, and the man looked every bit his age. Possibly even older.

"That is a question that every past Hokage has asked every clan head of the Hyuuga since the inception of the village." Hiashi sighed. "It is not... an easy question to answer."

Sasuke frowned. "Not an easy question? It doesn't seem too hard. You're the clan head, aren't you? Just abolish the darn thing."

"It is not as simple as you think," Hiashi answered. His voice was tired, as if he had said the words and visited the subject far more times than was comfortable. "There are certain regulations that must be observed and certain procedures that must be adhered to."

Sasuke scoffed. "Sounds like a bunch of bullshit if you ask me. The Uchiha never had this kind of thing. We had meetings, sure, but the leader of the clan always had final word on the matters of affairs."

"And look where that has landed them."

The air in the room tensed. Sasuke glared at Hiashi, his red eyes trying their hardest to burn a hole in the older man's skull. Hiashi, however, looked nonplussed. He almost seemed bored, though the slight clenching of his jar was as telltale to his anger as any other indication.

"I won't insult your clan if you won't insult mine." Hiashi said, his voice tight and words measured. Sasuke nodded, though it took him a while to deactivate his eyes.

"I still think that it's bullshit," Sasuke muttered.

Hiashi sighed, an action that was surprisingly common today, and turned from the boy to the door leading into the main section of the compound.

"If it eases any nerves," the older man said. Emotion had started to leak back into his voice. "I, too, disagree with the current state of affairs."

"Then why let them continue?" Sasuke asked.

"I've told you, boy. There are certain rules and regulations that must be observed. Traditions going generations back are not so easily undone. I would overturn them in a heartbeat had I the ability, but in doing so I would anger the elders of our clan. While they hold no particular power over me, they hold favor in the clan: both main and branch house. My impulsive decision would tear the Hyuuga clan apart. So no, as much as I would enjoy abolishing this system of oppression, I cannot both do so and maintain the stability of the clan. As clan head, my first duty is towards the survival of the clan that I love. It is not an action that I can do without threatening that survival."

Sasuke huffed. He looked away from the older man and focused instead on catching his breath. "Then just get rid of the elders."

Hiashi let a genuine, hard to mistake smile grace his face. "If only things were that simple."

"Why are they such assholes, anyway?"

"I suppose it is that they are mired in tradition."

"Why is tradition so important then?"

Hiashi hummed. "I suppose it is integral to human nature."

"Well," Sasuke started, "if human nature is so disgusting, then maybe I should just stop being human."

At this, Hiashi turned from the door he was about to open. His mouth opened, poised to ask the question so obviously hanging in the air, but suddenly snapped shut.

Sasuke noticed the older man's faraway look. "Is something wrong, Lord Hyuuga?"

"No," Hiashi said slowly. "I mean, yes. I apologize, I haven't felt this is quite a long time."

Sasuke, confused, let the man continue.

"I-I think my father senses are tingling."

Sasuke's face was deadpan. "Your father senses?"

"Shh, boy!" Hiashi shushed. "One— or both— of my daughters is in danger and I need to figure out which one!"

The two stood in silence for a bit, Sasuke looking decidedly more confused about this situation than his counterpart. The Uchiha wanted to believe that the man in front of him really did have some sort of sense telling him that his daughters were in peril, but...

He just looked so weird! The Hyuuga Clan head was standing there on the corner of the room waving his hands around like some sort of demented praying mantis!

After a while more, the Hyuuga snapped out of his trance. His mannerisms immediately defaulted back to his stoic nature, and the man once more turned to the door. With all the decorum afforded to him, Hiashi slid the paper door open and prepared to step into the hall.

Sasuke ran towards him, his icredulity not stopping him from finding out what was going on. "Well?"

Hiashi turned towards the boy. "Hmm?"

"Which one of your daughters are in danger?"

"Oh," Hiashi said. "I am not sure."

Sasuke gaped. "But what about your 'father senses'?"

"It is telling me that _both_ are in some kind of danger. I know where Hanabi is supposed to be, she should be studying for the Academy's entrance exams in the common room. Hinata, however..."

Sasuke nodded. "I will go look for her."

Hiashi nodded. "I am grateful for it, Uchiha. I will send other Branch members to scout for her as well, but as far as I know she was supposed to be around the industrial district. She walks around there when she needs to clear her head."

"Understood," Sasuke said. And like that the two were off; Hiashi to check on his youngest daughter and Sasuke to hunt down his eldest.

Sasuke, of course, jumped to the roof of the Hyuuga compound. Higher elevation should help him to look for her. He wasn't expecting to find her immediately, but it should be a good sta—

"Is that a large, green blob of sentient goo?" Sasuke asked himself, his eyes immediately falling on the odd creature. Sasuke took a moment to assess it, then activated his Sharingan to make sure he wasn't seeing things incorrectly. Then, upon confirming that it was _exactly_ what it seemed like, Sasuke shrugged and darted off after it.

"If that's not suspicious, then I don't know what is," Sasuke said aloud.

Besides, it couldn't be any more weird than Hiashi's "father senses," so Sasuke wasn't even afraid as he dashed over rooftops to the no doubt wicked monstrosity.

XxX

Hinata blinked once, then twice, as the gelatinous goo monster slowly oozed its way through the back alleys of the Hidden Leaf Village. She was entrapped, well mostly, inside of its gooey body. Her entire head, and maybe some fingers and her hip poked out from the ooze occasionally, but overall she was pretty immobilized.

Hinata yawned.

"Hey, girl," the goo monster cried. Seeing as it was a monster, and not a human, its voice came not from a mouth, but the entire gelatinous mass. It had an odd echoing quality to it, as if a normal person was talking from underneath a pool. "Can you at least pretend to be afraid?"

Hinata shrugged, or at least tried to. Despite the goo being liquid, it was incredibly viscous. She couldn't move much for anything while she was trapped inside of it, and it seemed to be sapping her chakra.

"But I'm not afraid, not really," Hinata said. "I mean, this is pretty bad, but I've had worse. At least this time I'm not being kidnapped by the Hidden Cloud Village."

The goo monster bristled, or at least, Hinata guessed that it did. "I am a giant goo monster! Can you fear that, at least?"

Hinata, once again, shrugged. "I've stopped being scared of things when I started dating the boy that would move mountains for me."

The goo jiggled. In doing so it jostled Hinata, but that didn't mean much to the apathetic princess. The goo monster did not seemed pleased by this.

"Well," started the monster. "As romantic as that is, I doubt that he can hold a candle to me!"

Hinata looked at the beast.

"Right?" it asked.

Hinata shook her head.

"But I am the pinnacle of Monster ingenuity!"

Hinata, once more, shook her head.

"…why?"

"Because I wasn't being romantic. Or metaphoric. He literally moved the mountain for me."

The goo made a sound that was almost a whine. "Yeah, sure. Your boyfriend moved a whole mountain for you."

Hinata was about to retort, but something slammed into the ground behind them. Slowly, the goo monster turned it's gelatinous body around to see what had happened.

Only to see a pink haired girl slowly rise from the crater she had flung herself into.

"Okay, new plan, whenever I'm flying with telekinesis, don't go faster than twenty kilometers per hour from above the two story line." Sakura then rubbed her forehead. "Also, ow."

The goo monster was stunned by the action. Hinata, however, was not.

"Telekinesis? Do you have psychic powers now, Sakura?"

Sakura looked at Hinata. Her face was almost a scowl as she looked at her former classmate. "Yes. I see that you're as nonplussed as ever." She then stopped, and for a second her eyes went glossy. They returned to normal soon, however. "And I see that you're lying, now. That's not a good face for the Hyuuga princess."

Hinata— sweet, innocent Hinata— actually scoffed. "It's a _monster_ , Sakura. I'm pretty sure that my lack of decorum will be forgiven."

The monster made a sound that was like a gurgle. "It wasn't a very good lie, though. I mean, how could your boyfriend possibly move a mountain?"

Sakura let her eyes drift, for the first time, to the monster that was taking up most of the back alley. "No, that happened. What didn't happen was the two of them becoming an item." Sakura looked back at Hinata. "You're not dating Naruto."

Hinata looked at Sakura. If it weren't for the fact that Hinata wasn't made with a mean bone in her body, Sakura might have interpreted the look as a glare. "We are. He just doesn't know it, yet."

Sakura rubbed her forehead. "I don't know what you see in him. He's practically emotionless half the time."

Hinata huffed. She pointed her nose in the air as she looked away. "Then you don't know him as well as I do."

Sakura sighed. She massaged her temples before looking back to the goo monster. "I, uh, I guess I'm sorry for dragging you into this. We've been having this argument for a while."

Indeed, ever since Ino started hanging with the Crazy Trio, Sakura had struck up a very unsuspected friendship with Hinata.

"It's fine?" the goo monster gurgled. "If that is all, then I'll just… leave?"

A blue film of telekinetic energy formed over both the goo monster and Hinata.

"Yeah," Sakura said. Her eyes were glowing the same icy blue as the energy that enveloped the two. "I can't let that happen, either. Her dad would blow several fuses."

The goo monster, unable to move, gurgled in a distressed way. "But she doesn't even have a problem with this!"

Sakura looked to Hinata. She looked about as interested in the current events as she would be about the weather.

Sakura looked back to the goo monster. "Yeah, she doesn't. Do you want to know why? It's because her _best friend_ would punch you so hard that your twisted descendants would feel it."

Sakura stressed 'best friend' while glaring at Hinata. Hinata tried to glare back, but it looked cute at best.

The goo monster gurgled. "Enough with the stupid best friend! Why are you so adamant about lying about him! I know that he's impossible."

"Actually," a voice echoed. It was familiar to both Sakura and Hinata. Sakura looked exasperated, and Hinata looked nonplussed. "They're not lying."

Sasuke Uchiha jumped down from a building into the surprisingly empty alleyway. He wore the Hyuuga training clothing, which was all white, but he still somehow managed to look gloomy. Sasuke took one look at the situation before turning to the one bastion of normalcy he could find.

Himself.

"Dear God, I'm really standing here in this situation." Sasuke closed his eyes, and stared upwards as if to imagine himself anywhere other than where he was. "One of my former classmates is trapped in some kind of sludge monster, who is in turn trapped in a telekinetic field of one of my other teammates." Sasuke groaned. "This is happening."

"Greetings, Uchiha." Hinata greeted with a small smile. "Is training with father over?"

"Why, yes." Sasuke responded. He returned the smile, though his was more of a smirk. "His… father senses… seemed to go off and we had to end the experiment early."

Hinata almost seemed to pale at that, but she took the information in stride.

"I see."

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "So, psychic now?"

"I'm a telekinetic right now," Sakura responded. "We'll see about reading minds in a bit."

Sasuke smirked. He turned to the goo monster. "Well, I guess it's time to show you what I've been working on. I haven't exactly been sitting still." Sasuke then got into an odd stance. His knees bent, putting him into a crouch. With one hand outstretched, and the other held back, he turned slightly sidelong to the enemy and bent his fingers into slight claws.

"I will show you the power of the Water Flowing Rock Crushing Fist."

Sakura smiled. She then raised her hand towards the goo monster. "Not if I crush it first."

The goo monster took that moment to break free of the telekinesis. It gurgled once, before letting goo tentacles burst out of its body.

"You will not take my prize! I will take you all instead!"

And with that, the three charged towards each other.


	8. Chapter 8: Upending The Chess Board

_**To the two of you who are still following this story, I apologize. To the one of you who is still a fan of me through my previous work, you have a reference.**_

 ** _This chapter took so long because I kept convincing myself that I had to reach the five thousand word minimum, and that honestly bummed me out. I kept retyping and deleting a lot of things trying to both force myself to reach around five thousand words, and to make it as good as possible. I got nowhere fast._**

 ** _So, this goes out to my fans, all two of you, do you think I should release shorter chapters? One or two thousand words will get out a lot faster than five thousand, and might force me to stick to a timeline. Couer Al'Aran is still a personal hero of mine, and he posts the date of his next fanfiction update in his stories._**

 ** _I could do the same, just not with five thousand._**

 ** _So here's the question. Five thousand word chapters on a non-consistent basis, or a one-two thousand word chapter every week or so?_**

 ** _Comment your responses. And don't forget to tell me how much I suck at writing!_**

 ** _(Again, I apologize.)_**

* * *

"Watch out!" Sasuke shouted. He attempted to warn his co-fighter, but his moment of distraction nearly cost him. Yet another tentacle burst out from the body of the sludge monster and nearly took his head off. With a spin on his right foot he managed to dodge out the way, if only barely.

"I can see, Sasuke!" Sakura responded. Three tentacles attempted to crush her, but a psionic shield came up just in time. They splattered upon contact with it but reformed soon after to come in for another go.

"You were so confident not a couple of minutes ago! What happened?" the ooze monster asked, his echoing voice so haughty now that he had his combatants on the back foot. He summoned more tentacles from his body, drawing the number of appendages to somewhere in the twenties, and continued his assault.

"We're still…" Sasuke grunted as he had to retreat even farther back to avoid the goo. "… we're still confident! We're just reassessing the situation!"

Sakura wanted to respond. She wanted to say that this was _definitely_ more than their fledgling abilities could handle, but her attention was eaten up by the barrage of tentacles that were now striking at her from every side. Her focus had to remain on the shield she had erected around her, and even then, her mental energies were bombarded every time a slime tentacle battered at them.

Hinata, meanwhile, was slightly less bored. Lavender eyes scanned the battle not only in front of her, but the tentacles as they raged about all around the battlefield. The slime monster, while vulgar, was careful and methodical in its combat. It didn't know what the two were capable of, but it knew they were on the same side. Therefore, it did the only logical decision and split them up.

Divide and conquer, as it was.

The two young ninja were at a loss now. Whatever plans they could have tried to make were moot. They barely had time to think between the two of them, so constant was the barrage of attacks.

" _He has to let up eventually_ ," Sakura thought. Just then, a tentacle had finally managed to break through her shield. She shrieked, only slightly, before erecting another one just before the next tentacle struck. There were now ten tentacles striking constantly at her defenses. Whenever one limb was blasted apart by her shields, another would take its place immediately while the destroyed one reformed. " _He has to run out of goo eventually_."

Sasuke's thoughts were along the same lines. Sharingan active, the young Uchiha ducked and dodged amongst the slime that was trying to twist around him. He had figured out pretty soon that the monster was trying to encircle him and trap him, so every time he dodged an attack Sasuke made sure to demolish the appendage with a strike of his own. His hand coiled like a viper, and then he struck with the tips of his fingers. The attack destabilized the surprisingly fragile tentacle, causing it to explode at point of contact. The appendage would then retreat to reform, giving Sasuke just the slightest amount of breathing room to move from where he was being trapped.

The two young ninja were doing a fine job of surviving, but even Hinata could see that they were tiring fast. Soon the goo monster would simply outlast them, and that wasn't okay. If only it wasn't draining her chakra so fast.

Come to think of it, that may be why it was able to last for so long.

"Any ideas, Sakura?" Sasuke asked. He spun while striking his hand out, dispelling several tentacles at once. "I'm running kind of low, here."

"Trust me, Sasuke. If I had a plan, you'd know."

Sasuke grunted, then backflipped out of the way of a new barrage of tentacles. There seemed to be a never-ending tide of them, and they seemed to increase with every passing minute. Soon the two of them would be overwhelmed, and possibly trapped as well.

"Give in," the goo monster echoed. "You can give in and find peace within me."

Sasuke grunted once more. He looked to Sakura and locked his currently red eyes with her green. Even without telepathy the two knew their decision.

" **Fuck no** ," the two intoned together, and suddenly they fought with vigor anew. Sakura stopped being on the defense; with a yell, she blasted all the tentacles around her away. Sasuke, upon noticing the lull caused by her attack, got to work. His body coiled inwards, just a little, before the boy exploded outwards. His hands and legs seemed to move in a flash, and before long the tentacles around him collapsed as well. The two combatants, though panting slightly, looked on the goo monster with accomplishment shining in their eyes.

"Maybe you should be the one to give in," Sasuke asked triumphantly. The goo monster was now without a way to attack, and his body looked noticeably smaller.

"You're without most of your ammo, and much more of this will leave you too small to keep Hinata trapped." Sakura then raised her hand. A film of psionic energy enveloped it, though it flickered with Sakura's tired concentration. "This is your last chance. Let our friend go, or we'll make you."

The goo monster rumbled. It inched backwards, or tried to, but the psionic energy surrounded it tightened. The beast rumbled, but its echoing voice was little more than a squeak now.

"It's over," Sakura growled. She tried her best to sound threatening, but she was standing on her last legs. Her knees wobbled, just a bit, and her chest heaved from the exertion. "Just let her go!"

The goo monster gurgled, and if it had a face Hinata was sure it would be smirking, the bastard.

"You're awfully confident. I can see that you are not much better off than I."

This caused them to stir. Sakura snarled, and her hand clenched. The goo monster made a noise, high pitched like nails on a chalkboard, as the psionic barrier surrounding it constricted.

"I'm tired of your games," Sakura said. Her voice was guttural as her hand clenched more. "Let go of my friend, or I'll make you."

The beast shrieked a bit more. Its goo shivered as it writhed in pain. It twisted in on itself as it tried to escape the pain to no avail. This continued for a few more minutes before finally it relented.

When it did, however, all it did was laugh once more.

"You really are a fool, aren't you?"

Sakura didn't respond. Her eyes simply narrowed as she squeezed the beast tighter.

"You care to repeat that?" Sakura asked. Her voice was level, almost monotone. Sasuke spared a glance towards her. A vein had started to bulge on her forehead. With how big her forehead was, the vein was hard to miss.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered, but the girl shrugged him off. She trudged forward, stepping over or squishing the slime puddles in her path.

"I don't think you're in any position to taunt me," the pink haired girl growled. Her emerald eyes were like stone. "Release my friend."

Once again, the monster laughed. Its goo attempted to shake, but Sakura's psychic grip held strong. "Or what? Are you going to squeeze me harder? Crush me to death? That'll be difficult with your friend inside me."

Sasuke spared a glance towards Hinata. She had been silent up until now. Now that he payed attention, he could see that the squished glue spread over her body evenly like a second skin. She didn't scream at the pressure, but her face was contorted into an obvious grimace.

"Sakura," Sasuke started. He walked over to her. "Hinata. You're hurting her."

Sakura sucked her teeth. "I know that, Sasuke."

It was now Sasuke's turn to frown. "Then _stop_. We came here to save Hinata. Not maim her."

"I _know_ that Sasuke!" Sakura yelled. She turned her eyes on the Uchiha, and even Sasuke almost recoiled at how fierce they were. "I am a lot closer to her than you are. I know full well of the situation at hand. The only problem here being that we don't have many other options. Unless you want to go in there and pull her out yourself?"

Sasuke looked back to the goo monster. It had no face, but he somehow knew it was smiling.

"Oh yes. Come over here and pry her out. I'll sit still for you."

Sasuke looked at Hinata. She was shaking her head rapidly. He looked back to Sakura.

"Okay, so I can't go in there. What now?"

Sakura shook her head. She turned back to the monster and clenched her hand once more. The monster shrieked, but otherwise didn't let go of its captive.

"Sakura!"

"What?" she asked. "There has to be a breaking point. It obviously feels pain. Eventually it won't be able to bear it anymore."

"But what about Hinata?"

Sakura looked at the girl. The Hyuuga heiress looked back. Unspoken words passed between the two girls in a way of communication that only girls could use. They both nodded, coming to some sort of agreement, and for a second Sakura's hand relaxed.

It then clenched again, this time harsher than before.

Sasuke jumped, surprised by both the monster's sudden screams and Sakura's sudden ferocity. "Sakura?"

"Forget it," the psychic mumbled. "She's a stubborn bitch. She can survive this."

Sasuke looked back the trapped girl. She was grimacing from the force of the psychic barriers closing in on her, but there was no fear in her eyes. Instead she held a cold, hard gaze. She was firm, unyielding to even her perilous position. She was staring directly at Sakura, almost challenging her.

Sasuke looked back at Sakura. Her gaze was the same and focused on Hinata.

He looked down. "Is this a girl thing?"

"It's a shut up and get back thing, Sasuke. I'm going to turn this thing into a cube."

"And Hinata?" Sasuke asked. He looked to the trapped girl. She could obviously hear the pinkette, but her resolve hadn't faltered. "Forget it. Have your grudge match. You two obviously need to work something out."

"Atta boy!" Sakura chanted, and for once it seemed like Hinata agreed. She nodded at Sasuke, before turning her glare back on Sakura. She hadn't said anything, what with her mouth now being encased in goo, but whatever she did ticked Sakura off more. The blue film of psychic energy surrounding the monster brightened, and apparently Sakura had forgotten her fatigue.

"Oh yeah?" Sakura growled. "Well, no matter how many times you say it, it won't be true! I _refuse_ to let one of my best friends date a monster like Naruto!"

Sasuke, who was walking away, turned around at Sakura's words. "Excuse me?"

Hinata was silent. Apparently, she didn't need words to prove her point. She wiggled her eyebrows.

"I don't know him like you do?" Sakura asked. She then grunted. "No, it's you that doesn't know him like I do. Do you want to know what he did on our last mission?"

Hinata nodded her head vigorously. The goo monster gurgled around its shrieks.

"How are you moving inside of me?"

Sakura ignored the beast. "He punched a hole in the landscape. _In the landscape_ Hinata. Do you understand how impossible that is? Logistically he should be dead. Scientifically he should have burned beyond the point of ashes. Do you realize how impossible he is? No amount of chakra can explain what he does. He could probably cook a chicken by slapping it."

Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I know how stupid that sounds," Sakura said. "But a lot of what he does sounds stupid. He moved a mountain because you wanted shade!"

Hinata sighed. Her eyes took on a glazed look as she thought of her supposed paramour.

"No, Hinata!" Sakura yelled. She clenched her hand tighter, and the added pressure snapped Hinata out of her daze. "That isn't romantic! That's insane! A normal person would have, I dunno, moved slightly to the left?"

Hinata pouted.

"Everything is good about normal! Normal is understandable. Normal is predictable."

Hinata quirked an eyebrow. Sakura faltered in her argument.

"Well, yes, it does get boring. But its safe! And I just want you safe."

Hinata shook her head.

"Yes, I know we're ninja, and we're hardly ever safe, but…"

"Hold on," Sasuke interjected. "Are you really arguing about Naruto. Naruto is the reason you two are fighting."

"Well," Sakura started. "Not Naruto, per se. More of Hinata's stubbornness. She won't admit that Naruto is some sort of freak."

To this, Sasuke looked away. "Well…"

Sakura's face fell. "No. Not you too, Sasuke. You're the normal one. You're the last voice of reason I have left!"

"Well, its just that its not nice to call people monsters… especially when you want to surpass them someday…"

"He punched a hole in the countryside, Sasuke!"

"Other ninjas have blown up entire cities on their own!"

"Those ninjas aren't twelve, Sasuke!"

All the while this argument was happening the discarded blobs moved silently across the floor. Some were small, some were as big as a small dog. All were moving in concert, slowly oozing their way across the ground.

"Itachi was an ANBU when he was my age," Sasuke said with a pout. His Sharingan had deactivated when the fight had come to a standstill. There was no reason to waste chakra. "Kakashi was a Captain."

Sakura held a hand to her head as she tried to stall the coming headache. "Okay, before we even get into the insanity that is your brother and _Kakashi_ , we're still not addressing the fact that Naruto levelled a countryside. Or is that fact not getting through to you?"

The discarded blobs were starting to coalesce. Two tiny ones became one fair sized one. Two fair sized ones became a distressingly large one, almost as big as the two bickering children. So engrossed in their argument were they that they missed the events around them.

Hinata didn't. She growled and shook, and tried to alert her comrades. The goo monster shushed her.

"Just let it happen."

The two bickered more, their attention suitably distracted from the goo monster and what he was doing. Soon the discarded bits of his body had gathered into two fairly large replicas. They advanced slowly, moving as if smaller versions of the original, to the two children.

"I think that being a ninja comes with a fair amount of insanity. I mean, have you seen Gai?"

Sakura groaned. "Don't remind me about Gai. He isn't something that anyone should see—"

Sakura wasn't able to finish. Before she could react, a blob of goo just slightly taller than her pounced. It enveloped her immediately, silencing her abrupt screams.

Sasuke fared no better. He had maybe a second to react before a blob of goo was on him as well. A second was all he needed, however, and he managed to jump out of reach of the blob.

"Blasted beast. Malicious monster!" Sasuke snarled. The blob that tried to devour him didn't seem to mind the insults. Tentacles, smaller than the ones from earlier, erupted from its sides and attempted to entangle him. It took him only a second to reactivate his Sharingan and start deflecting them once more. "You're going to have to try harder than that!"

"Oh, I intend to," a chilling voice said. It was behind him, and Sasuke was too slow to realize a jarring truth.

The goo monster holding Hinata was no longer being held by Sakura's psychic powers.

A single tentacle, small and spindly, attached itself to Sasuke's ankle. Years of training kicked in, and the Uchiha attempted to brush off the restraint, only to be pulled off his feet. He was down for not even a second before the smaller blob assigned to him ate him whole.

Upon the Uchiha's devouring the goo monster cackled. Its voice echoed off the back alleys of the industrial area.

"I knew it! I knew that I would win! And now I have two more delicious meals to drain!"

Sasuke, now fully encased in goo, managed to fight at least his head out. He gasped for breath, lungs burning from holding it even for so short a time. After regaining his bearings he looked around, only to see Sakura in a similar position. He tried to move, to force the rest of himself out, but he couldn't. He was tired before, but just being trapped like this was making him even more exhausted.

"What's—" he started. Sakura cut him off.

"It is draining our chakra," she said. The blue of her telekinesis flashed in her eyes, but it was snuffed out almost immediately afterwards. "We're stuck."

"No," the goo monster said. "I think the accurate term is 'food'. You're going to be drained, and fill my stomach, and maybe, if you're lucky, you'll be a nice little chakra battery until you kick the bucket."

"And if we're not lucky?"

"You'll be a dried, unrecognizable corpse."

Sakura swallowed, both her trepidation and her spit. This was starting to look like it was out of her pay grade.

"But you won't have to worry about that. When I start digesting you, your mind goes dormant. Think of it as a friendly little gift from me."

"A better gift would be letting us go."

The goo monster chuckled, of all things. "Well, I'm not nearly that generous."

The goo blobs holding Sakura and Sasuke edged slowly closer to the one holding Hinata. With another cackle, the goo monster spoke.

"When I'm done draining you three, the rest of your village is next. A couple more Genin, before moving on to Chunin, and then finally some Jonin." Here the monster cackled again. "Once I eat you all, even the Hokage won't be out of my grasp!"

Sasuke grunted as he strained against his sticky bindings. "You'll never get away with this!"

The goo monster shook as it laughed. "Oh really? And who's going to stop me? No one even came to save you three!"

Hinata finally managed to poke her head out of the goo monster. "You know, he's right. This is happening, like, right in the city. I know that this part is abandoned, but it is rather strange that no one came to the sound of our fighting."

XxX

A civilian worker sighed. He finally punched out of a long day at work, and couldn't wait to get home. He had packed his belongings and scurried out of his warehouse job as soon as the clock struck seven, and he was already making tracks down the street. He would forego the rush hour along the main street, and instead duck into the abandoned industrial site along the edges of the village.

Most people said that the place was haunted, but this civilian wasn't superstitious. He had watched many a horror movie and was not going to be tricked by the tropes. Even if the place _should_ be haunted, he was too vaunted, too wise, to be caught in its death throes.

That's why when he passed an alley and heard the distressed call of children, he stopped for only a second.

"I should help them," the civilian muttered.

He then pulled his pack tighter over his shoulder and continued on his way home.

Nope, he wasn't dying today.

XxX

"Face it, children! You are going to be nothing more than my meal!"

"Your plan is doomed to fail!" Sakura shouted.

"Oh really? And where exactly is this confidence coming from? Let me guess, will the power of friendship bail you out of this? Or, wait, maybe it is the super secret hidden power you've had inside you all along?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Nope."

The monster rounded on him. "Oh? So do you have a way out?"

Sasuke nodded.

"And what is it? Do you have a magical ball somewhere on you? Or maybe a hidden rainbow kunai of world breaking ability?" The beast chuckled. "Ridiculous."

Sasuke shook his head once more. "Nope to either of those things. What I do have, however, is a tiny orange midget."

Sasuke then gestured back to the alley entrance. With his face. Somehow. Sure enough, standing there was one Naruto Uzumaki. In his hands were grocery bags from a place called "Melon Mart." The blonde took in the scene, his impassive eyes taking everything in without a single word to the contrary.

He then picked up his bags and turned around.

"Hey!" Sakura shrieked. "Where the hell are you going?"

Naruto turned around. He then pointed to himself.

"Yes, you, you idiot!"

"I apologize," the blonde said. He turned back to the alley. "I am going to Apple Mart. They have a sale on fish today, and if I hurry, I can get some before the sale ends."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as Sakura fumed. He decided to take over before the pinkette blew a fuse. "And what about us?"

Naruto tilted his head. He looked confused. "Do you want fish as well?"

Sasuke's mouth opened, then closed again. He shut his eyes and took a second to calm his nerves. When he opened them again, his words were clipped.

"No, Naruto. I mean our situation. What are you going to do about our situation?"

"I wasn't aware that I had to do anything. You guys seem to have it under control."

He said it so simply, so self-assured, that Sasuke had to take a second look. He turned, even in the goo, to look over the alley. Yup, they were all still trapped in a goo monster and about to be eaten. They were so out of control of the situation that it wasn't even funny.

"Naruto?"

"Hmm?" the blonde enigma asked.

"What part of this seems like we're in control?"

Naruto's head tilted some more. "Are you not?"

"We are not."

Naruto picked up his bags and turned.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

Naruto turned around. "To Apple Mart. They have a sale on fish today, and if I hurry—"

"No, no. Naruto, I know where you're going. What I want to know is why."

Naruto stopped. A frown grew on his face as he started thinking. The goo monster gurgled, unsure what was happening before him.

"Should I... should I eat him too?"

Sakura sighed. "I would let you, but I'm not sure you would survive the attempt." The pinkette then perked up. "On second thought. Go for it. Eat your little heart out."

All the while Sasuke's eye had developed a dangerous twitch. He opened his mouth, but Naruto beat him to it.

"I'm going because I like fish, and I would like to buy some."

Sasuke's brain shut down. It was such a visual and auditory collapse that everyone heard it. Hinata took over.

"Naruto, dear. Aren't you going to help us?"

Naruto looked to Hinata, and his face brightened ever so slightly upon seeing her. "Hello Hinata. I wasn't aware that you needed help."

"A goo monster is eating us, Naruto."

"I've heard that things tend to get out of hand whenever friends play."

It was then that Sakura's brain shut down. It was such a visual and auditory collapse that everyone heard it. Hinata took over.

"We are not playing, Naruto. We don't want this to happen."

"Oh," Naruto said. His face then darkened as he turned his cold blue eyes on the goo creature. "Oh."

The goo monster then tensed, not entirely sure what it was feeling just now. It felt like it should run. It should run so very far away from the approaching disaster. The goo monster wasn't a very smart being, however, and ignored the feeling.

"Oh? Are you coming for me, boy? Step a little closer..."

It was around here that Sasuke and Sakura awake from their mental fatigue. They looked around, only to see Naruto approaching them slowly. They relaxed a bit, happy that someone capable was coming to save them.

Then Naruto shifted his bags to one hand. He cocked back his arm, and uttered words that they never wanted to hear.

"Come boy! I'll eat you like all the others!"

"Serious Series: Serious Punch."

XxX

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose. The oncoming headache was legendary, but he resolved to fight through it. In front of him was a panting Guy. The man was so out of breath it wasn't funny, but at least he had convinced Naruto to stay chained to his chair.

The man would have a hefty bonus coming his way.

"Naruto," the Third Hokage asked. "Why did you destroy the Industrial Market?"

The Third Hokage had to skip straight to the point. The boy would neither understand beating around the bush, nor appreciate it if he could.

"Dunno," the boy said. His foot tapped impatiently against the floor. He kept glancing at Hiruzen's clock.

"Have somewhere better to be?"

"Yes."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Better than meeting with the leader of your village?"

"Yes."

"And where would that be?"

"I need to get to Apple Mart. If I make it before seven thirty, I can still buy the fish on discount."

Apple Mart was over thirty minutes away if you walked. Three minutes if you hopped over the roofs. Thirty seconds if you used the Teleportation Technique. Naruto didn't know the Teleportation Technique. Also it was seven-twenty nine. Hiruzen sighed. He knew that the boy would still somehow make it.

"If you answer my question, you could get out of here quicker."

"Goo monster tried to eat Sasuke and Hinata."

Hiruzen looked at his papers. "It says here that it also tried to eat Miss Haruno."

"Who?" Naruto asked. His eyes darted back to the clock.

"I think Apple Mart is closed."

"It shouldn't be. I have forty seconds left."

Hiruzen sighed. "Just say yes or no. Can you do that for me?" Naruto nodded. "There was, definitely, a goo monster somewhere in the Industrial District that tried to eat Miss Haruno, Miss Hyuuga, and Mister Uchiha?"

Naruto looked at the Third Hokage. His eyes were pleading. "Yeah, sure."

Hiruzen slammed the report closed. "Good enough for me. You may go."

The Third ignored the sonic boom as the boy took off. He lit his cigar, sat back, and prayed that Naruto never found out that his clock was ten minutes slow.

XxX

In the wreckage of the previously dubbed Industrial District were three human children. The onyx haired one spoke first.

"So much... pain..." he uttered.

"How did they forget us?" the pinkette said around groans of pain.

"They were... so focused... on Naruto..."

"Why...?" Sakura groaned.

"Why... not?" Hinata grunted. "He's amazing."

"Hate you," Sakura growled. "So much."

Hinata chuckled. Usually it sounded like the tinkling of bells. Now it sounded like bruised ribcage. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it? Come over here and beat me up? Oh wait..."

Sakura groaned once more. "Hate you..."

Sakura fumed as Hinata laughed once more. She tried to move, but the overwhelming pain was too much. Naruto had punched at the goo monster, and try as it might, it was still blown away by the attack. The problem with it all, however, was that Naruto apparently thought that everyone else was as durable as he was. The attack hit them, as well as the entire Industrial District.

If it weren't for the goo monster absorbing almost all of the shock, they would have definitely died.

And now, after that harrowing nightmare, Sakura had to sit through Hinata laughing at her. Sometimes things really did suck.

"Hinata? Hinata is that you?"

Now, Sakura couldn't see the Hyuuga heiress, but she could still somehow feel the girl's panic. A malicious smile came to her face.

"Oh, Lord Hyuuga?"

"Sakura please don't."

"We're over here!"

"You bitch."

"Hinata! Thank goodness! I was afraid I'd lost you! For some reason my Father Senses couldn't get a read on you. What happened here?"

Hinata struggled in vain against her father's grip. Ever since she toughened up since meeting Naruto, she had become much stronger. Hiashi's treatment of her turned from cold to doting almost overnight.

"Naruto did it."

Hiashi tutted. "Now that's impossible, Hinata."

"He did. He punched the area."

"Nonsense," the Hyuuga patriarch said. "Do you know how much energy that would require? He would have quite literally burned up. Even chakra can't explain this destruction. Now come, we have to get you fixed up."

"Please no," Hinata pleaded.

"You'll die if I leave you like this."

"Then let me die. Don't bring me to the Hyuuga doctor."

Hiashi didn't seem to mind his daughter's words. He hauled her onto his shoulder and walked away. Meanwhile Sakura was cackling. The Hyuuga doctors were notoriously... brutal.

"Hahaa," Sakura murmured around her gasps of pain. "Sometimes karma is good."

"Oh, and don't worry, we can treat your friends too. Branch members! Get the young Uchiha and his friend."

Sakura's face paled in tandem with Hinata's vicious smile. Oh yes, karma was good indeed.


	9. Chapter 9: Prelude to the Exams

_**New Fic. Shorter chapters, more reliable updates.**_

 _ **Just like I promised.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter Nine

Chuunin Pre-Exams

Naruto wandered aimlessly through the village, his fingers interlocked behind his head as he walked. His eyes were trained on the sky, with not one care given to the villagers he walked amongst. The other citizens of Konoha, of course, gave the boy a wide berth as he moved. Not because of the fox he held, but because they saw him fighting Gai above the village. The greatest of their ninja wouldn't fight Gai. This kid did it at least twice.

Naruto was a man worth respecting. They cleared the way.

Naruto, however, hadn't noticed their parting. His eyes traced the lining of every white, fluffy cloud that passed overhead, and whatever thoughts that might have gone through his mind shifted with each passing cloud.

Overall, Naruto was having a good day. The only problem, however...

Ice needles zipped through the air, making nary a sound as they closed in on their target. Naruto didn't turn to acknowledge the attack aimed for the back of his head. His arm struck with ungodly speed, and the ice broke against the back of his hand. More ice needles, this time from every direction, flowed into existence, and all of them were primed to pierce the poor blond.

It was really too bad that they couldn't. Naruto hadn't moved, he hadn't even blinked, as the onslaught pelted him from all around. Every needle broke against the boy's skin as if they were no more than snowflakes.

Naruto, after a few seconds, finally blinked. His eyes roved over the citizens of Konoha, who were still walking impassively around him, then to the sky. On the roof was a familiar face.

Or more accurately, a familiar mask. Naruto waved to Haku. The masked boy did not wave back.

"Demon," Haku said. His voice was muffled by the mask adorning his face. Unlike the plain white one he wore before that disguised him as a hunter ninja, the one he wore now was animal based. It had markings along the edges and slightly resembled a fox.

The mask, alongside the swirl tattoo on his arm, marked him as the Fox Anbu.

Naruto didn't mind the distinction. He hardly noticed it in fact. Instead he took one step forward...

… and immediately ended up behind Haku on the roof.

The boy jumped, having not expected it, and instantly zipped away to gain distance. The Teleportation Technique allowed him to gain distance, and in less than a second he was several rooftops away from the cursed blond.

Of course, less than a second was hardly an amazing feat, and several rooftops was hardly an amazing distance. Naruto was behind Haku once more before he even touched down. When the masked boy finally did land, Naruto was already waiting for him. With no ceremony, the blond picked up the Yuki and hefted him into a bone-creaking hug.

Haku struggled futilely.

"Let me go, Demon!" Haku roared. His arms were pinned to his side, and thus he was forced to kick his legs to maintain some attempt at an escape. Naruto's grip was like iron bars, however, and at most Haku was just flailing around.

"Demon?" Naruto asked. His head tilted, and his as of yet cut hair fell in front of his eyes. "Have you been talking to the villagers?"

Here Haku roared again. He kicked some more, and in doing so dislodged some of his hair. Silky black locks fell out of the elegant bun they were wrapped up in.

With a mask obscuring most of his face and his hair falling apart, he still looked like one of the most beautiful women Naruto had ever seen.

" **You're not gay, are you brat**?" the Fox asked. Naruto shook his head.

" _It's not gay to compliment another man. It is gay to want to hold their hand_."

The Fox shrugged. " **I dunno man. That sounds pretty ga** —"

The Fox was cut off by Haku's increased resistance. The boy thrashed about, completely unaware of the conversation happening in the blond's mind.

"Why would I ever talk to the villagers of your stupid city? I don't even want to be here!" Haku kicked once more. "And I definitely didn't want to be your Anbu! Why was I even made an official ninja of your village? I'm a Wanted Ninja!"

Naruto shrugged. "Technically you were never an official ninja of any village in the first place. You can't abandon a village if you never belonged to one."

"Furthermore, why did your Hokage only assign me to watch you? He _knows_ that I hate you!"

"Why do you hate me?"

Haku stopped thrashing and looked at Naruto. He wore a mask, but it wasn't hard to imagine the face he was making. It was blank, mouth agape, as he strained to turn to look at the blond restraining him.

"You... you killed my master."

"He tried to kill me first."

"Why didn't you kill me too?"

"Because you're my package."

And it was here that Haku started thrashing once more. Wild kicks flew about as the boy rocked back and forth haphazardly. Still, Naruto hadn't moved. He hadn't even swayed as the Anbu feebly resisted his restraints.

"And that's yet _another_ thing! Why do you keep calling me your package! I'm not a thing for you to own! I am my own man."

Naruto nodded. "Of course you are."

"And I can do whatever I want!"

Naruto nodded again. "Of course you can."

"And right now, I want nothing more than to kill you!"

Naruto nodded. "Well, you can certainly try."

Here Haku screamed. His voice, laden with misery and rage, shook the very rooftops and parted the gentle clouds above. Even though his arms were bound, his hands could still move, and by using dual one-handed seals, the boy was able to complete a technique.

"Demonic Ice Mirrors!"

Two thin ice mirrors formed between Haku and the blond tyrant, pushing them apart. Haku used that time to sink into the ice, before dashing out of it in less than a second.

For Haku, the world turned blue as time froze around him. He was accessing levels of speed that only those using the most advanced space-time techniques could match. The masked Anbu would be proud of his accomplishment...

Had the blond menace not matched his speed by simply moving.

Deciding to kick it up a notch, Haku raised his hands and went through more seals. Another ice mirror sprung to life in front of him, and he wasted no time in dashing into it. His speed nearly doubled from that action alone, and his perception struggled to keep up. The world was now a blur to him, and almost everything had stopped moving.

Everything except Naruto, who was still walking alongside the boy as if nothing was wrong.

"I've never seen anyone else move this fast before, Haku." the blond demon said. "Good on you."

The blond demon then had the nerve to pat him on the head, as if he were a puppy just learning to walk.

Haku screamed. He attempted to move to summon more ice mirrors, but his hands fumbled every time. He was now moving faster than his own eyes could perceive, and his hands kept bumping into each other, his fingers fiddling and bumping into each other.

Now stuck, Haku could only scream impotently as the blond demon rubbed his head as if he were a child.

" _I'll get more speed_ ," Haku vowed. " _One day, I'll be so fast that even this blondie won't be able to stop me_."

XxX

Konohamaru Sarutobi was the grandson of the Third Hokage. His father was an elite ninja, Anbu, whose name was lost to the annals of time. His mother was a civilian, a baker who took meticulous care of him. His uncle was a member of the Royal Guard that protected the Daimyo.

None of them mattered in the end. Konohamaru would be the scion of his own making. He would carve his name into history if he had to, and he would do it _despite_ the legendary names that graced his family. He would make a name for himself, and it would be his given name, not his surname, that the young ninjas of the future would revere.

He would be strong. He would be righteous. He would be a hero that none could surpass.

It was with these convictions that Konohamaru gripped a blade in hand and charged. His scarf, which was longer than he was tall, flapped heroically behind him as he bounced off first the ground, then the wooden fence. He whipped forward, kunai at the ready, and brought his blade down on his opponent.

His opponent didn't even need to turn to block the attack. A hand, thin but impossibly sturdy, burst from the wrappings on his target's back. His blade _thunked_ against the appendage, before bouncing off. Konohamaru wasted no time and sprung back.

His target turned, and Konohamaru got his first good look at the villain's face. Girly purple makeup made vertical lines down from his eyes and across his lips. He wore purple lipstick as well, which only made his grimace even more disgusting.

Truly, this man was a deviant.

Still, none of those things mattered in the end. The only thing that Konohamaru saw was the headband the man wore. It wasn't the spiral leaf that adorned the heads of Hidden Leaf ninjas. Instead, it was a simple depiction of a gourd.

Hidden Sand then. Not exactly enemies, but not exactly friendlies. Either way they didn't belong here. Konohamaru readied his blade.

"Quite the spunk you got on you, brat," the makeup man said. Konohamaru looked over his opponent and grimaced. The full body cat suit was not appealing to look at. "But is attacking visiting ninja really a custom of Leaf ninja? And you call us the savages."

Konohamaru didn't respond verbally to the taunt. Instead he threw his kunai. It flew straight and true, and didn't stop until the same mechanical hand from before wrapped around and blocked it.

Makeup man chuckled. "That won't work on me, kid."

Konohamaru knew that full well. He reached behind him and into his pouch, pulling out the contraption therein. It attached to his hand easily, and he pointed the arm it was on towards his enemy.

Makeup man raised a makeup eyebrow. "Neat little armband you got there. Are you gonna accessorize me to death?"

Konohamaru smirked. So the man was still underestimating him. The scarfed boy charged forward, the arm wearing his armband cocked behind him. He waited until he was almost upon makeup man to duck under his lazy swing. The man overreached, his swing disrupting his balance, and Konohamaru took the chance to push his hand outward. The mechanism on the underside of his armband whirred, and a tiny capsule just bigger than his fingernail came spiraling out.

Makeup man's eyes widened as he watched the capsule be suspended in the air before his eyes. It shook once, then twice, then cracked. Konohamaru smirked, and was already far away from man.

"Incinerate," Konohamaru whispered. He watched as the Fireball capsule broke open…

…and then get immediately swept into the air by a gust of wind. The capsule burst midair, and a Fireball singed the afternoon sky, increasing the temperature of the area while it was alive.

Konohamaru paid it no attention. He stared at the blond haired girl who was standing next to the invader. He had a battle fan —Sand Village steel, open partially and bigger than she was— perched before her, and she was caught between a condescending glance to the makeup man and an amused glance at him.

They were basically the same look, but Konohamaru felt the need to distinguish.

"You're getting sloppy, Kankuro," the blond said. She closed her fan, then whipped it to rest on her shoulder. "Letting a kid get the best of you? You should feel ashamed."

Makeup man, no, Kankuro just looked stunned. He stared at the fireball for a few seconds more, before glaring at his sister. "How was I supposed to know that the Leaf Village had a little psychopath in their midst?" Kankuro then glared at Konohamaru. "I won't be making that mistake again."

Konohamaru smirked. So they were finally taking this seriously? He crouched, then unzipped his jacket. More mechanical parts dotted the insides, and he slipped another armband on. The bindings around his ankles loosened, revealing yet more machinery. Finally the boy gestured forward, two fingers pulled inward while the rest pointed outward.

"Come, intruders," he said. The two Sand ninja chuckled.

"Are you sure you can take us both, kid?" Kankuro asked.

Konohomaru didn't answer, instead, he pointed downwards. The two Sand ninjas looked down, only to see a spinning capsule at their feet. This time the blond woman didn't have a chance to react. The capsule cracked open, and the two were engulfed in a Fireball.

Konohamaru only smirked. "Of course I can. I am the Cyborg of Justice, and I will be a hero."


	10. Chapter 10: Start of the Chuunin Exams

**Thanks for calling out the Kabuto thing. I was tired by the end of that.**

 **Thank you for the reviews, keep commenting and help me get better.**

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter 10:

The Start of the Chuunin Exams

The explosion sent tremors rippling through the Hidden Leaf Village. People stumbled and produce clattered to the ground. A fireball stretched into the air, mushrooming outwards near its peak, and the air became noticeably hotter for it.

The people of the Hidden Leaf took one look at it before resuming their work. The other people, however, weren't so nonplussed. A concerned Sound ninja approached the nearest person, a perturbed Leaf citizen, and questioned her.

"Hey lady, that was an explosion, right? I'm not going crazy?" the man asked. He pointed to the fireball that _still_ hadn't dispersed.

The lady followed his finger, staring down the fire with lidded eyes. She nodded once, then turned back to the strange man interrogating her. "It would appear so, yes."

The Sound ninja waited for to continue. When several seconds passed and she hadn't, he decided to elaborate. "And are you not at all concerned with the fact that an _explosion_ went off in the middle of your village?"

The lady shrugged. "I've seen worse."

The Sound ninja sputtered. "You've seen… worse?"

The lady nodded. "Yup. At least it isn't Sunday." She then shuddered. "I hope Naruto is busy this Sunday. It's my first day off in weeks."

The lady then rushed off, ushering her confused toddler along behind her. The Sound ninja watched her walk away, eyes wide in his daze, before turning back to the raging inferno. Smaller explosions erupted around the initial one, sending shockwaves around the area.

And still the people refused to react. The Sound ninja saw maybe one of two Anbu openly crouching on the rooftops and watching the matter with a vague sense of interest, but otherwise they made no move to intervene. Deciding that satiating his curiosity was worth it, the young man ventured up to the rooftops. He didn't make any sudden movements, instead choosing to wait for the masked ninja to acknowledge him.

Luckily it didn't take long. One of the masked men— or women, it was hard to tell— turned to him. They didn't say anything, instead opting to simply nod to show that they were listening.

"Aren't any of you going to handle that?" he asked. The explosions were being accentuated by high impact gales.

The Anbu said nothing for a moment, effectively creeping the Sound ninja out. When they did speak, it was in a fairly androgynous voice.

"No, we aren't. We are stationed on a far worse threat."

A trickle of worry snaked its way into his heart. For a second he considered the idea of the Leaf Anbu knowing of the impending invasion. The Sound ninja silently snaked his arm behind him, hoping to arm himself for a confrontation he knew he wouldn't be able to win.

Then the Leaf Anbu snorted, an action mimicked by his partner.

"And, speaking of the devil…" the lead Anbu started, "… how are you, Naruto? Are you done with your grocery shopping?"

The Sound ninja, nerves effectively frayed, spun around when the Anbu started talking to someone just over his shoulder. Weapon out, he prepared himself for a legendary ninja of titanic proportions capable of diverting a ninja village's attention away from an obvious attack.

He almost tripped when he was met with the lackadaisical image of a boy just barely in his teens. He wore a simple white t-shirt and orange shorts. On his feet were sandals, and wrapped sloppily around his neck was his headband— it showed that he was from the Hidden Leaf Village. In his hands were a bunch of plastic bags. Vegetables and other produce poked out.

Like everyone else in the village, he simply looked bored. The gusts coming from the area of the explosion were growing in power, and a purple gas that just had to be poison had started to seep out of the carnage.

And yet, still, no one moved to do anything about it. It was perplexing.

The boy tilted his head. The Sound ninja hadn't even felt him land on the roof behind him. The boy was obviously skilled.

He almost tripped once more when the boy started speaking.

"I thought I told you guys to stop following me around."

The Anbu chuckled, and for a second the Sound ninja thought they sounded _ashamed_. "Well, you have, but we can't exactly disobey orders from the Hokage. He wants us to make sure that you don't break anything again."

The boy, who was most definitely named Naruto, shrugged. His brows furrowed, but he looked more annoyed than anything. "I have never broken anything on purpose."

The second Anbu laughed, but it was hollow. More to lighten the mood than anything else. "Well, no. We know that you never purposely do anything… but…"

But what? The Sound ninja had to know. It was the lead Anbu that spoke next.

"You moved at speeds approaching light the other day when fighting the Fox Anbu."

Naruto nodded. "I remember fighting my package."

"Yes, quite. Well, fighting _the Fox Anbu_ nearly destroyed the Financial District. We're here to make sure you don't do it again."

It was here that Naruto quirked an eyebrow, and for a second he even seemed excited. For every bit that the boy gained excitement, however, the Anbu seemed to grow a bit more fearful.

The side Anbu put up their hands and warded off the boy's train of thought. "Of course, we aren't going to stop you by fighting you. Oh no. We're just going to solve your problems… for you?"

They seemed scared, and their choice of action seemed more of a proposal than a certainty. Naruto seemed to be pondering their words. After a while he finally relented with a nod of his head.

"Sure, I guess." He then turned, finally seeming to notice the wonton destruction happening in the background. "What's going on over there?"

The two Anbu followed his gaze back to the warzone. One shrugged, while the other seemed to finally be calming down.

"Dunno," the lead Anbu said. "We're only paid to make sure that you don't destroy the village. Everything else is a minor problem."

Naruto nodded his head. He then walked off into the general direction of the explosions. The two ninja, of course, followed him.

The Sound ninja was left standing on the roof. His mouth opened and shut steadily, before finally he turned around.

"I'm not even going to try. Of _course_ the Village that spawned Lord Orochimaru would have nothing but freaks in it."

XxX

Konohamaru flipped, before using the thrusters in his armbands to propel himself through the air. A slight movement of his thumb, and a mighty, though focused jet of flame sent him careening out of the way of a gust of wind. The ball of air went on to utterly decimate a tree, and for a second Konohamaru was relieved that he had practice in midair movement.

The boy landed shortly after, and though he was out of breath, a smile crept its way onto his face. These two were strong, and it had been a while since he had met a worthy adversary. Everyone was either far too strong or seriously weak. These two were just the right amount of challenge.

In front of him, emerging from the dust cloud whipped up from their attacks, was the blond Sand Village girl. Her smile was predatory as she stalked out of the debris. Her clothing, which was a white getup with a sand colored rope tied around her waist, was now scorched along the edges. Her battle fan, which was now fully opened, did not fare much better. Fire had eaten holes into the fabric that made up the "fan" part, and even the metal was burnt in places.

No, the Sand Kunoichi did not look pleased.

"You have went from _cute_ to _annoying_ , brat!" she yelled. She swung her battle fan, but it was nowhere near as powerful as when they had started the fight. Konohamaru dodged the air blast easily. "I'm going to enjoy watching my wind carve you to pieces."

Konohamaru smirked. He moved to engage, but something pinged in his awareness. Not one to doubt instincts, he turned and raised his arm.

The poison needles from makeup man broke on his metal armbands.

"Not bad, kid. I'll almost feel bad killing ya." The makeup man was a puppet user. His first puppet, a deranged looking humanoid with four arms, was keen on poisons. It jerked erratically and spasmed every so often as makeup man waved it through the air in front of him on near invisible chakra strings.

"You're going to have to try harder if you want to kill me." Konohamaru shouted. He raised both arms, one pointed to either side of him, and flexed his fingers. Fire roared to life once more, but both Sand ninjas were prepared for this by now. By the time that the inferno left his armbands, the Sand girl had already swung her fan. His flames were buffeted by the wind and snuffed out.

"Your fire isn't chakra-borne, is it brat?" the girl taunted. Konohamaru almost sneered at her. On the other side makeup man wasn't doing any worse. His demented doll sprang in front of him and absorbed the worse of the fire. The wood was burnt in places, but ultimately both he and his puppet were fine.

"All you've got are fancy gadgets and no skill. You're not even a real shinobi!"

This time Konohamaru _did_ snarl. Wasn't a real shinobi? He had worked hard to get where he was. He had trained _years_ , slaving under harsh training regimens and the whims of Dr. Kuseno. Not a _real_ shinobi?

Konohamaru crouched. His entire body tensed as the mechanical parts attached to his arms and legs shifted, the engines therein firing up.

"I'll show you a real shinobi."

The dirt road was scorched as fire erupted from both Konohamaru's hands and feet. He took to the air in less than a second, and soon he was less than a blur darting around the mid-afternoon sky.

"What?" Kankuro gasped. He was struggling to hold his ground from the shockwave.

"What's going o—" was all Temari was able to utter before instinct told her to raise her fan. Konohamaru appeared at her side, phasing out of nothingness, and delivered a devastating spin kick. His foreleg hit the metal of her fan, and the _clang_ that rang out lasted only a second before Temari was sent flying away. She broke through the wooden fence around the clearing and out of sight before she could stop herself.

"Temari!" Kankuro shouted. He wanted to go help her, but Konohamaru wasn't done yet. He flexed his fingers, and fire erupted from his gadgets again. The boy phased out of sight once more. Kankuro was visibly dismayed.

"Enough of your games, boy!" Kankuro shouted. He swung his puppet in a circle around him. The puppet's mouth opened, and a sickly green mist bellowed out. "Let's see you get through this!"

Konohamaru proved that he could easily get through it. With a dynamic entry worthy of youth, the boy barreled through the poison cloud surrounding the Sand ninja, spear kicked him in the back, and emerged on the other side in less than a second. Kankuro sputtered as he tumbled on the ground, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

"I've…" Konohamaru panted. "… I've done it."

Both Sand ninjas lay in their respected divots in the ground, firmly knocked out. He had finally done it. He had beaten full-fledged ninja. Feeling victorious, the boy raised his fist in the air.

"I've done it!" he yelled to the sky. He had taken his first step towards being a hero!

So wrapped up in his victory, he didn't notice the mosquito land softly on his outstretched knuckle. It buzzed and tiptoed on his skin before flying away.

It would have sucked some blood, but ultimately there was no reason. Sand constructs didn't need blood, after all.

XxX

"Why do I have this overwhelming feeling that I should be somewhere right now?" Sasuke asked, his eyes staring off into space. He had frozen mid kata in the middle of the Hyuuga dojo.

Faintly, off in the distance and behind far too many walls, he could hear the screams of his comrades.

" _Dear goddess just let me DIE,"_ came the unmistakable voice of Sakura. Her wails echoed throughout the halls and into the ears and souls of everyone around.

" _You are to blame, Sakura. My children and their children and their children's children will dog your descendants for every generation to come, I promise you this_." That was definitely Hinata. Her voice wasn't as loud, but it was so assured and deadly. Like a spine-chilling whisper in an empty room.

Sasuke smiled. He continued his katas. No, this was exactly where he needed to be. The sound of the two most annoying women in his life suffering under both their own pettiness and the Hyuuga doctors was all he needed in life.


	11. Chapter 11: Written Exams

_**Hey guys. Took a while, didn't it? I'm sorry. I had a bout of writer's block. And depression.**_

 _ **This is slightly longer than the 1.5 K I promised, though. About twice as long. Enjoy. Let me know how it is and have a wonderful day.**_

 _ **Also, to answer a review: yes, that wasn't the Chuunin Exams. I meant the Chuunin Exam Arc, which technically starts around that point. I apologize if that was a clickbait.**_

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One Hit Ninja

Chapter 11:

Written Exams

Naruto sighed. His hands were holstered firmly in his pockets as he trudged through the halls. All around him were various people, some older, some younger, all buzzing about. Today was the first day of the Chuunin Exams, and all eligible ninja were to report to the Academy building for testing.

Eligibility was typically decided by the Genin's higher ranked instructor. Seeing as Naruto had no such instructor, he was sure that he would be able to get by this exam. That hope was dashed almost immediately.

XxX

 _Naruto stared at the Hokage, his face carefully impassive. Any overt emotions might make the already stressed out Hokage snap. As it was the old man was chugging on his pipe like some kind of human coal train. The wrinkles on his face were much more pronounced than usual, and his eyes were bloodshot._

" _You're participating in the Chuunin Exams," the old man said. Naruto shook his head._

" _No instructor," he said, and left it at that. Apparently the Hokage had foresaw such a conclusion, and from his desk he pulled a folder. It slammed on the desk, almost cracking the wood._

" _Your previous instructors have given you glowing recommendations," Sarutobi said. Gone from the statement was the fact that almost all of those "recommendations" were due to the fact that none of the instructors would have to deal with him when he was promoted._

 _There was no doubt in anyone's mind on whether the little monster would be promoted._

 _Naruto picked up the folder. He rifled through the papers therein and picked some out. The first one had a picture of a man that Naruto only faintly remembered. He was to teach Naruto ninjutsu._

" _Totsuko lauded your ninjutsu as being extraordinary." The Third Hokage almost looked proud, but even Naruto could see how forced it was. The Hokage was a man who didn't let many things past him, and even the most dense of children knew how abysmal Naruto's ninjutsu was._

" _The last jutsu I used exploded," the child said. Sarutobi nodded._

" _And quite spectacularly, as well. We are still cleaning up that Training Ground."_

" _I was trying to use a water jutsu."_

" _Your enemies will never expect the fiery explosion. I've never been one to chastise my soldiers for ingenuity."_

 _Naruto saw that he was getting nowhere with this. Instead he picked out another report. He vaguely remembered this man as his genjutsu teacher. He showed the recommendation to his Commander._

" _I cannot use Genjutsu."_

 _The Hokage took another puff on his pipe. "Nonsense. Ariaka is a trusted teacher. She would never lie. If she says that you are a genjutsu expert, then that is what you are."_

" _I have never completed a genjutsu in my life."_

" _Are you sure that you haven't cast a genjutsu on yourself to make you believe that? Truly impressive."_

 _Naruto grunted, but didn't press. The old man seemed intent on his own illusion. Trying one last time, he pulled out the picture of his most recent projectiles teacher. Here, the Hokage took the lead._

" _Ah, Kensuke. He said that you hit every single target with a single shuriken. Impressive, young Naruto."_

 _Naruto shook his head. "I hit not one target."_

 _The Hokage took a look at the paper. "Are you sure? It says here that you destroyed every single one."_

" _Yes. I destroyed them all. The shuriken never actually hit them though. It just destroyed the landscape around it."_

 _Here the Hokage's pipe fell out of his mouth. The old man, skilled as he was, caught his pipe before it hit the ground. Still, his moment of shock was prevalent enough. He coughed once to catch himself, before turning to Naruto with as serious an expression on his face as he could muster._

" _Well, the ends are more important than the means, it seems…"_

 _Naruto stared at the older man. Never in his life has he ever heard the old man uphold such a dogma._

" _Either way, you have been nominated to engage in this Chuunin Exam. Go and make our Village proud."_

 _Naruto wanted to argue, but the old man was being stubborn. When he was like this there was no convincing him, and any further dissonance would put his food money in jeopardy. So instead he just nodded, snapped the chains holding him, and stood up. He took the contract allowing him entry and signed it, before turning to the door. He waved to an out of breath Guy and made his way out of the tower._

 _He had exams to study for._

FXxX

Naruto stepped around some people in the crowd. He could just bulldoze through them all, but he was told that was bad.

" **I don't see why you don't want to do this. You wanted to be Hokage, didn't you?** "

Naruto shrugged. The Fox wasn't wrong, he did want to wear the giant triangle hat eventually, but…

"There really isn't a reason anymore, is there? I wanted to be Hokage because I wanted everyone to respect me. To be Hokage, I needed to be stronger. I'm stronger now, and sure people respect me, but…"

Naruto held out a hand. It wasn't a punch, or anything threatening even. He just held out his hand abruptly. Not nearly enough force to do anything but kick up a breeze, if that.

The people around him all but threw themselves out of the way. Some tumbled to the ground, already in the fetal position. Others employed techniques and were far away. Some even jumped out the window.

Naruto just stretched. A yawn soon followed.

"Everyone is afraid of me. There isn't anyone strong enough to even challenge me. Thinking about it, aren't I basically the Hokage already?"

For a while there was silence, and Naruto paced his steps as he made his way towards the assigned classroom. It wasn't until he climbed the stairs and turned into the necessary hallway that the Kyuubi answered.

" **You don't have any authority. What if you need to order someone to do something?** "

Naruto shrugged. He scratched his cheek as he answered. "Well, when do you think I'll ever need to order someone to do anything? I guess it would be nice to make the supermarket stay open an hour later so that I don't miss any sales, but that seems like an abuse of power."

" **What if you need someone to fight for you**?"

"When will I ever need someone to fight for me?"

The Fox didn't have an answer to that, so the two enjoyed the silence for a bit longer. It wasn't long until Naruto reached the door to the classroom. He reached to open the door, when he was stopped.

"I see that you managed to get past the first test," an old, but amused voice said. "I'm glad to see that you're not all muscle and no head."

Naruto turned to find his landlady behind him. Her smile was all gums and her eyes twinkled as she stared at the boy. Naruto had grown since he had become a ninja, so instead of being twice his height, she came to just being a head taller. It wasn't a major improvement, but it was something.

Naruto didn't respond to her taunt, no, instead he raised a fist. It soared through the air with no real power behind it, and the retired kunoichi dodged the attack with ease.

"Oh ho ho ho!" the landlady cackled. "Someone's testier than usual."

Naruto didn't say anything. His blue eyes met the woman's slate gray, and his lips pursed as he tossed several more punches. The landlady dodged them with the ease of a practiced veteran, and she floated around the halfhearted punches like a leaf in the wind.

"Usually the Jonin instructor greets their students before the written test, but all of yours were… indisposed."

Naruto stopped his onslaught. He tilted his head as he looked curiously at his landlady.

"No one else wanted to come greet you, so they decided to bring an old lady out of retirement."

Naruto reared a fist back.

"So good luck, okay child?"

Naruto, caught off guard, let his hand fall. He stared at the lady for a while longer—a full minute, in fact— before nodding his head. The landlady chuckled, then rest her hand on his head. She ruffled his hair before vanishing.

Naruto stared at the spot she left. Blue eyes beheld nothing but air as a whiskered face betrayed nothing. He stood in silence, allowing people to pass around him, for a couple seconds more before turning and walking into class.

" **I thought that you couldn't trust anyone, kit**?" the fox asked. Naruto scoffed mentally.

"I don't trust her," he thought back. "I just don't think she has any reason to betray me."

XxX

Naruto was a man of very many talents. He could sew a hole in his clothing shut in under a minute. He could cook one-minute rice in thirty seconds. He could lift an entire mountain range and shift it three meters to the left. He could then destroy said mountain range, leaving naught but rubble and memories.

Some of his accomplishments were more noteworthy than others.

One thing that Naruto could not do, however, was read the future. As such when he took that first step into the classroom where his written exam was to be, he was not ready to be bowled over by a mop of blond hair.

"Naruto!" Ino all but screeched. She had a vice-grip around his neck as she literally nuzzled him into the ground. Naruto took one look at her and nodded.

"Hi, Ino." He said. He patted her on the head before rising. She still hung off his neck, but that didn't seem to bother either of them.

"How is my favorite socially awkward blond?" she asked. Naruto nodded.

"I'm fine. A bit hungry, but I guess that's my fault for not eating enough."

"Yeah, I'm doing great too! I'm excited for the exams. We're gonna be Chuunin!" Ino babbled on, uncaring of what Naruto said. She was used to the blond boy's almost silence. A little too used to it, in fact. She talked enough for the both of them regardless of whether he was talking. She continued her spiel for another uninterrupted minute before an exasperated hand dragged her back.

"Sorry about this, Naruto." Choji said. With his bulky frame and powerful arms he easily held a now rabid Ino in the air. "She's been like this ever since team formations. She did this to Sasuke and Kiba as well."

Naruto looked around. He easily ignored the fierce glares of the examinees from the other villages, only to focus in on the familiar faces. Sasuke and Kiba lay in almost broken heaps on the ground, likely from Ino's fatal glomp attacks.

The blond nodded as he looked back to the two. Ino was thrashing in Choji's arms, not that the rotund boy particularly cared.

"It's good to see that you're still so lively," Naruto said. He didn't really mean it, but he didn't have anything else to say. "How are the rest of you doing?"

Here Choji smiled. With seemingly no effort he cast Ino behind him. The girl shrieked in indignation, but otherwise landed gracefully.

"I'm fine. Shika's doing well too. Ino-Shika-Cho was remade in this generation, and we've all been learning under Asuma-sensei. How have you been?"

Naruto shrugged. Not much had changed. He'd done missions, gained a package, and occasionally remodeled landscapes. So nothing new. He let Choji know as much.

"Haha!" Choji chuckled. "Things are always interesting with you, aren't they?" He casually held out a hand and clotheslined Ino mid-glomp. She folded over his arm, out of breath but still conscious. She glared at her teammate. "Well, we have to get back to Shikamaru. If you need us, we'll be in the back. Just follow the sound of Shika's snoring."

And like that the two were off, Choji carrying an irate Ino over his shoulder. Naruto cracked a small smile. They were interesting. He turned from them and made it exactly two more steps into the room before being tackled by a small dog. It yipped at him, before climbing to his head. The blond didn't need to be psychic to know what was happening next.

"Naruto! You blond bastard! How are you?" Kiba, of course, accentuated his question with a punch. Naruto didn't bother with dodging. He let Kiba's hand bounce off of his forehead and nearly shatter. Kiba winced, and nursed his swollen knuckles, but otherwise didn't let his pain show. Naruto respected his resolve.

"I'm fine," he answered. "I'm not entirely sure why I am here, but the old man made me come."

Here Kiba was joined by his teammates, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame. While the latter didn't say anything, the young Hyuuga smiled. Naruto smiled back and waved at her.

Kiba, however, latched onto the young man's words. "Wait, are you not excited to be here? If we pass these tests, we get to be Chuunin! Isn't that so cool?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just doing this for fun. It's more of a hobby that pays than an actual job for me."

The three ninjas of Team Eight looked at Naruto, faces blank as they took in the words. Kiba was the first to speak.

"Being a ninja is a… hobby… to you?" he asked. Naruto shrugged.

"Pretty much. It's something I do for fun."

"You fight bloodthirsty villains and risk your life every day… for fun?" Shino asked. The lower part of his face was covered by the tall collar of his jacket, but one could somehow feel the boy's mouth hanging open.

"I wouldn't phrase it that way," Naruto responded. "No one has been particularly challenging yet."

Kiba and Shino just stared at the boy. Their eyes didn't leave the blond for a full minute before, simultaneously and without any conversation, the two shrugged and turned to their seats.

"Well, it was great seeing you, Naruto." Kiba said.

Shino didn't say anything, but from his curt nod and waving hand it was apparent that the boy was done with the conversation.

Hinata, however, ran up to the boy. She hugged the boy tightly, and though it wasn't anywhere near tight enough to register, Naruto faked coughing. If he didn't the girl wouldn't relent. Even with his fake choking, it took the girl a couple minutes to ease up. When she did she only allowed him breathing room. Before she fully let go, she leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"When we're both Chuunin, you'll be all mine again."

Then she skipped off, a sudden extra bounce in her step. Naruto watched her go, waving all the while.

" **That one scares me** ," Kurama whispered, even though no one else could hear him. Naruto shrugged and turned, once more, into the room.

"She's funny."

" **She wants to mate you**."

"You can't prove that."

" **I can smell the pheromones**."

"We're in a room full of teenagers. Of course you can."

And the conversation ended there.

XxX

Sakura turned when she felt the strong presence enter the room. Naruto wasn't particularly strong mentally. No, he was one of the simpler minds. When she mastered telepathy, Naruto was the first that she tried to read. His thought process was exceedingly plain, and never more complex than immediate needs.

No, his uniqueness lied with his _presence_. Everything she moved with her telekinesis pushed back against her mind, and certain things required more mental muscle. While things with minds that could resist her typically outweighed things that didn't, Sakura found that things that simply weighed more required more effort.

To put it into context, a boulder would weigh more than a pebble, but a person would weigh more than a boulder twice their size. Still, a house would weigh more than that person regardless of how much they resisted. A house was simply too much.

Naruto, however, was like eight houses. He was like eight houses and a mountain. And Sakura couldn't figure out why. She tried to push on him with all of her strength in passing, once. She demolished the field behind him, but she doubted Naruto noticed a thing.

So yeah, whenever Naruto entered a room, she felt it. Subconsciously she pushed on everyone every time she entered a room, and most people didn't have the fortitude to resist. Naruto, however, pushed back. His very presence bulldozed through her ambient psionic energy, putting pressure on her mind and alerting her whenever he was near.

Sakura took one look at him, saw Ino glomp him, and then turned to see Kiba recover from his fatal glomping to rush over to the blond as well. With a sigh, the pinkette raised her hand and enveloped her saner partner in a film of psionic energy, restraining him.

"What gives, Sakura?" Sasuke raged. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke was actually smart. His mind raced with thoughts and powerful emotions, and he pushed her intellectually. His mind raged against hers, but in the end she won out. Sasuke was caged. "I have to go say hi to Naruto!"

"Oh no," Sakura said. "I'm not having you interact with that ball of crazy any more than you need to."

Sasuke struggled a bit more, but couldn't escape. Eventually he settled for simply glaring, and Sakura responded by glaring back.

"Then how come Sai gets to go say hi?" he eventually asked. Sakura, caught off guard by the question, turned to see Sai making his way over.

For some reason the boy just did not show up on her radar.

"Damn it," Sakura groaned.

XxX

Sai stopped a good meter or so away from Naruto, said nothing, and made absolutely no sound in the exceedingly noisy room full of murderous teenagers. The blond still turned the second that Sai stopped moving, and the two entered a staring contest with absolutely no prompt from either boy. They stood there, staring at each other, for almost an hour.

A silver haired boy walked up to them. He adjusted his glasses and attempted to brag about his cards. He was rebuffed when they ignored him.

Sasuke eventually broke free and made it over as well. He, too, was sent away when the two didn't even break eye contact.

Eventually Ibiki, a tall, imposing monster of a man entered, and started the test. He took one look at the boys, muttered "I'm not an idiot like Guy," and continued the test around the two.

Both Naruto and Sai ended up passing the Written Exam, and neither knew about it until the next day, when both boys nodded, turned, and went about their days.

Neither have exchanged a single word with the other as of yet.


	12. Chapter 12: The Forest of Death

_**New chapter.**_

 _ **Yay.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter 12:

The Forest of Death

"You all have five days to get the other kind of scroll," a lady yelled. She wore a trench coat, a fishnet shirt, and nothing else. "Failure to do so results in an automatic disqualification from the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto looked down at the scroll in his hands. It was like any other scroll he'd seen, just a piece of parchment rolled up. The band using to bind it, however, had a depiction of air: three lines curled at the end.

"Pretty simple stuff, actually," the lady continued. "Have an air scroll? Get an earth scroll. Have an earth scroll? Get an air scroll. Get a usable pair, then get to the tower, and you win! Don't get a usable pair, you lose! Open the scrolls at any point, you also lose. Also, though this should go without saying, if you die, you lose."

The lady then stopped in her ranting. She seemed pensive for a moment, and only a moment, before reaching inside her trench coat, somehow not revealing anything, and pulling out a large stack of paper.

"Oh right, also, there's a totally big chance that you guys are gonna die in there. Big spiders, some tigers. Some _big_ tigers. Whole bunch of stuff in there. I'm going to need you guys to sign these so that the Leaf Village doesn't get sued."

Then, with far more enthusiasm than was necessary, the lady bounced around and handed out the liability forms. The children she handed them to looked alarmed, most likely by the casual threat of death, but they took the forms regardless. Team Seven was handed forms, as well as Team Eight. The lady bounced about sporadically, handing forms to everyone she passed without rhyme or reason. She bounced from a Team from the Hidden Sand to a Team from the Hidden Rain. Then to the Hidden Rock and the Hidden Cloud. Just when it seemed like she was going to bounce to everyone involved, she stopped, headed back over to the middle, and stood with a smile on her face.

"I trust everyone has their form? You can't get in without a form."

Naruto raised his hand.

"Speak up! If we find you entered without a form, you're disqualified on the spot."

Naruto jumped in place.

"No one? Everyone has their form and are ready to sign it?"

The people surrounding Naruto nervously glanced his way as he fidgeted in place. The lady sighed.

"Look, Naruto. You know who I am." The lady had a weary look on her face as she looked at the blonde Genin.

Naruto nodded. He remembered her as "Anko: Snake Girl."

"Very good," the Snake Girl said. "And I know who you are. Honestly, when the Hokage told me that you were entering, I tried to skip out on being the examiner. But, sadly, it was too late. There is no one who could pick up all the responsibilities I've been practicing." Anko then sighed again. "I don't know why you're here. I don't know why you're not off somewhere scaring Boogeymen and terrorizing cities. I don't know why the boss man decided that it was a good idea to drop what amounts to an adolescent human bomb amongst children. All I know is that I'm trying to make things simple for me."

Naruto nodded. He could understand the want for a simple life.

"Now, I could give you a waiver. I could let you sign it and not be held responsible for whatever happens to you in that forest. If I do _that_ , however, then I open avenues for people attacking you without repercussions. You and I both know that if you get attacked, bad things happen for everyone involved."

Naruto shrugged. Nothing bad ever happened to him.

"So no, that's not what we're doing today. If anything happens to the rest of these kiddies, their dead bodies will feed my babies in the forest. If anything happens to _you_ , then there will be no more forest. There will be no Training Ground and no Hidden Leaf Village. So you don't get a waiver. If anyone attacks _you_ then they will be answering to every ANBU on site. Oh right, by the way…"

Anko snapped her fingers. A trio of ANBU teams appeared around Naruto. Not a trio of ANBU. A trio of the teams.

"We can't keep you from taking part in the exam, but we can keep you from getting in trouble."

"But I don't want to take part in the exams. I don't even want to be here."

Anko sighed. She was doing that a lot lately. "Okay, correction. We can't stop the Hokage from _making_ you take part in the exams, but we can stop you from getting into trouble."

Naruto nodded. That seemed about right.

"Anyway," Anko said. She turned to the rest of the examinees. "For the rest of you, have you finished signing your forms? Good!" She whipped around and snatched the forms from the Genin, not caring whether they were done. Once she had them all she snapped her fingers, and the various gates along the length of the metal fence surrounding the Training Ground opened. "Now get in there and prove yourselves. Fight dirty, gouge eyes, and remember to have fun!"

The Genin rushed the gate, most of them looking wary about the situation that they just had to witness. Still, they shrugged it off and got to work, making sure to check their tracks as they charged into the forest that had trees bigger than their houses.

As they continued into the forest, Naruto could only look at their backs. He shifted towards the ANBU holding him back, his name was Dragon, and raised on eyebrow.

"Let them have a chance to set up traps and such," the ANBU murmured. His voice was gruff. Naruto noted this for future reference before turning back to Anko.

"Do I have to go in there?" he asked. Anko's head swiveled so fast to him that he almost missed the movement.

"I don't know," she responded. "Do you?"

Naruto shrugged. "Do I?"

And like that, everyone still outside the Forest of Death looked at each other. Naruto and Anko looked hopeful, and the prospects of just leaving the area dawned on them. Naruto could _always_ just leave, foregoing the whole Exam altogether, and no one would be able to stop him. He knew that, Anko knew that, hell, even the ANBU knew that, and as one they all broke rank to allow Naruto to leave.

The blonde was prepared to do just that when a voice rang across the village. It was aged, tired, and generally pissed.

" _IF YOU DON'T TAKE THE SECOND EXAM I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE YOU NEVER GET TO SHOP ON DISCOUNT AT ANOTHER STORE IN THIS VILLAGE AGAIN_."

And just like that Naruto did a 180 and trudged towards the forest. The ANBU sighed, recognizing the voice of their leader, and followed the boy in.

Anko collapsed on the ground, her strength finally leaving her.

"So close," she whimpered. "We were so close…"

XxX

Sasuke ducked, his body shifting like flowing water as his fists flew forward to hit the massive tiger that pounced on him. Two hits, then three, and the tiger collapsed on the ground. Its eyes, which were about as big as half of Sasuke's torso, rolled to the back of the tiger's head as its tongue lolled out of its mouth. It wasn't dead, but at least it was out of the fight. Sasuke turned, ready to check on his teammates, when another tiger leapt from the bush behind him. Caught off guard, the young Uchiha was prepared to defend himself when yet _another_ tiger rushed from behind and engaged it.

The new tiger was black and white, however.

"Tch, I didn't need your help, Sai." The Uchiha glared over his shoulder as he said it, at the pale boy standing just behind him. Said boy smiled, and boy was that a creepy thing, as his ink tiger tore into the real one.

"From my perspective it seemed that you were in danger. Was I wrong?"

Sasuke grit his teeth but didn't respond. The boy would misconstrue anything he said and likely had already come to his own conclusion. Instead, the avenger simply rolled his eyes and turned back to the tiger. It was only one of the many in the tiger pack and they didn't have time to argue. Sasuke crouched his legs, before shifting into his personal stance. He waited for what he knew was coming.

Sure enough, the real tiger soon overpowered Sai's ink one, and with a yell the Uchiha burst forward to combat it. Before he could engage, however, a blue film of energy enveloped it. The tiger seized up, its bones contracting in unusual ways. There were audible _cracks_ and _pops_ , before the tiger was forcefully whisked away into the treeline.

Sasuke and Sai both stared at the direction it flew, before stopping and staring at one another.

It seemed like Sakura was done playing around.

Tigers, some more than three times Sasuke's size, were lifted from the jungle floor and carried through the foliage. There were screams, roars of pain, for just a moment before the jungle fell into silence.

Sasuke looked to Sai.

"If she could do that, why did she wait all this time?" he asked. For once Sai seemed genuinely confused. The pale boy shrugged his shoulders.

The two boys waited a bit longer, and sure enough all signs of struggling ended. The brush rustled, and out came Sakura. She wore a disturbing smile on her face as she approached her boys. Sai, not knowing any better, smiled back. Sasuke, however, grimaced. He tried his hardest to avert his gaze and empty his mind, but the deed was already done. He had already seen her.

"Did you have fun, boys?" Sakura asked. Her smirk was telling. She waved a hand as she approached, drawing Sasuke's eyes to it. She then placed it on her hip, which of course drew his attention to her exposed thigh. Sasuke felt the blush coming on. He tried to suppress it, he really did, but the telepath had already sensed his emotion. Her smirk grew.

"Don't waste our time if you could just wipe them out," Sasuke said through clenched teeth. He had averted his gaze, but even he knew it was too late. Sakura was now firmly in his mind.

No one knew the reasoning behind it, but Sasuke felt like he had a pretty good idea. Sakura had changed her clothing from her red qipao dress and black shorts, to a form fitting red leather dress. While it covered her entire upper body, including her arms, as it draped downwards it cut off, showing an ample amount of leg.

Most just thought that Sakura was embracing her kunoichi training, but Sasuke knew better. Sakura could read emotion and thoughts. She knew when she flustered others.

Sasuke knew that she just enjoyed teasing her peers.

Sakura's knowing gaze was irritating. She didn't respond to his taunt, but then again she also knew that he was only saying it to change the subject. With a massive amount of effort, the boy tried to push the psychic out of his head.

He had middling luck in doing so.

Luckily, however, he needn't worry. Sai walked up, all business and no emotion, and spoke. The instant he did, Sakura's attention turned to him, and she didn't like what she saw.

"Now that the danger has passed, we should get moving."

Sasuke nodded, but Sakura just stared at the pale boy. Her brow furrowed as she kept her eyes on him. She stayed that way for five seconds more, before nodding and turning away.

"Lead the way," she said, letting Sai take point. The pale boy had no problems with it, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to follow.

Sasuke took one look at his pink haired teammate and smiled. "Still can't read him?"

Sakura _tsked_. "I can read him just fine. It's just that there isn't anything _to_ read. No thoughts, no emotions, nothing. It's like cutting someone open and finding, not blood, but an empty, limitless void." Sakura shuddered. "It's creepy."

Sasuke chuckled. He placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, but did nothing else to comfort her.

Being on this team sucked, but at least it was entertaining sometimes.

XxX

Dragon was a legend amongst the Hidden Leaf Village's ANBU Corps. He had a confirmed successful mission rate of one-hundred percent. His marks were always collected and his charges were always protected. He balked at the sight of none, even those stronger than him, and if he would die, he would do so in a heartbeat for his nation.

Dragon, the leader of the Konoha ANBU, was truly the perfect soldier. He fought both odds and enemy every time he woke up in the morning and fought those same odds to sleep at night. His life was saturated with blood to the point that he couldn't remember a moment where he hadn't walked amongst death.

But here? Now? Right now Dragon wanted to retreat. He wanted to crawl back to his bed and stay there.

 _ **GROOOOOOOOOOOWL**_

The very act of roaring felled trees taller than the tallest buildings in the village. The earth cracked as fissures spread through the forest floor, and creatures both large and small fled from the creature's casual challenge.

To their credit, Dragon's loyal subordinates hadn't fled. Some retrieved weapons— kunai, short swords and the like— while others prepared techniques. None fled, however, and for that Dragon was grateful.

If they _had_ fled, however, then perhaps Dragon could have fled as well. For that, he vowed to put them all through the most rigorous self-preservation training he could muster if they survived.

The beast, a nearly one-hundred-foot-tall tiger, simply glared at them. Its paw, from which sported a claw that could tear buildings asunder, dwarfed every single one of them. Its fur, from sight alone, could likely absorb any attack thrown at it, and even its tail battered trees as it lazily moved through the air. The creature lumbered forward, and even that was threatening. As its massive paw dragged it forward, its gargantuan frame brushed aside yet more trees.

The legendary tigress, Nekomata, had found them, and none of the ANBU had any doubt in their mind on whether they would make it back home.

"Soldiers," Dragon said. His voice was calm and silent. He couldn't shout his orders, for any sudden movement could set off the apex predator that even now stalked towards them. "I know that I rarely ever compliment you, but I want you to know that it is because I believe actions speak louder than words. In by staying by my side, you have told me of both your loyalty and integrity. I just want to say that it was an honor serving as your captain."

His subordinates didn't reply. The ANBU squads, three of them, did not respond to their leader's words. Some tightened their grips on their weapons, while others said short prayers. But none moved. None responded. No words were needed.

"On my order…" Dragon started, only to be interrupted. Their charge, one Naruto Uzumaki, adjusted his pants as he emerged from the brush. His bathroom break now over, he could focus on things other than relieving himself. He took one look at his "guards," then followed their gaze to the towering behemoth.

His eyes brightened considerably.

"Kitty," was all he said, and for a second the ANBU had to stop mentally making their last wills. They turned from the monstrous cat in front of them to gape at the boy whose smile couldn't possibly be any bigger.

"What?"

Naruto pointed at the tiger, whose limited intelligence allowed it to understand human speech, and beamed. "That's a kitty. The old man said that I couldn't have any pets because they wouldn't survive, but that's a kitty, and its big. There's no _way_ he'll say no to that!"

And just like that, the boy rushed ahead. He tunneled through the ANBU ranks like a bull through paper and closed the distance between himself and the monster cat.

The ANBU, suitably confused, could only watch as two titans clashed.

XxX

Sasuke pivoted on the branch as the Snake Man closed in. One strike, then two, and the Snake Sage Orochimaru glided once more into his guard. Sasuke cursed, and moved his kunai to intercept the older man's, when Sakura's psionic grip took a hold of the man once more. The pale Sannin seized as he struggled against his female teammate's hold, and Sasuke took that moment to gain some ground.

"My, my. What interesting little bugs I've found." The Snake Sage's voice was somehow both lilting and dangerous. He spoke with casual grace, as if he didn't find any of the three children threatening at all. It was likely he didn't.

"What do you want, freak?" Sasuke spat. He didn't have time for this. It was only the first day of the exam, and already was a monster gunning for their head.

"What do I want?" Orochimaru asked. His words were, terrifyingly enough, almost sulty, and his freakishly long tongue moved independent of Sakura's hold. "Oh, no. I think we should be more accustomed to what _you_ want."

Sasuke frowned at the man's words. What he wanted? "I want to get out of this forest. I want to pass the Chunin Exams. I want to avenge my clan. More than all of that, however…" Sasuke brandished a second kunai. "I want to get away from your freaky ass!"

The Snake Sage chuckled, and boy was it creepy. Shivers traveled down Sasuke's back as the man spoke.

"Interesting. Very interesting. You are on the right path, boy." Here the Snake flexed, and Sakura's psionic hold faltered. The blue light outlining the man shattered like glass, and out of the corner of his eye Sasuke saw Sakura flinch. "But to do all of that, you're going to need power. Can you attain it?"

Sasuke ducked a knife thrown by the man. It skimmed his cheek, and blood spilled from the line it cut. He didn't have time to dwell on it, however, as the Snake was on him immediately. Blades clashed and sparks flew as the two ninja dueled it out, but eventually Sasuke was overpowered. The Snake pushed him off balance, and in his moment of weakness he was kicked square in the chest. Sasuke tumbled off the tree, hitting the ground in a roll. He tried to get up, but a foot pinned him to the ground.

"Pathetic," Orochimaru crooned, that same annoying smirk on his face. The pressure on Sasuke's chest increased, and the boy could feel his breathe hitch. "All those years growing up in Konoha and you're still so _weak_."

Sasuke snarled. His Sharingan spun in his eyes as he glared at the man above him. He was _not_ weak. He was working towards his strength. He was working towards his power. He was stronger than most others in his age group and would only continue to grow. He tried to get up, and for a moment he managed to inch off the ground, but the Sannin wasn't impressed. A quick stomp sent the boy crashing back down to the earth and his breath barreling out of him.

"You have fire, boy." The Snake said. "But it is wasted in Konoha. This village makes ninja. It makes _heroes_. But those are paltry. Barely worth the paper that they inscribe their names on. You can grow strong as a hero, boy, but you will never reach your full potential." The Snake raised its arm. "No, to truly be powerful— to truly make your dreams come true— you must be more than a hero. You must be more than human."

To Sasuke's horror the man's arm then _split_. A wet _squelching_ sound echoed through the forest as his arm dissolved into a gaggle of snakes. They coiled and hissed amongst one another as they writhed from their previous form as the man's arm and soon they all turned, in tandem, to glare with slit eyes at him.

"Your brother was more than just a human, boy. He was a paragon of his kind, and his strength bypassed any that average ninja could attain to. His name was whispered in fear amongst the common folk as legend. His enemy spoke his name in reverence as _monster_."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he thought on the man's words. That was true. His brother was no less than a monster both in battle and otherwise.

"My teacher, the Third Hokage, while human, was a monster of his kind as well. He destroyed many an army by his lonesome. And me? Well, you can see what kind of monster I am."

Sasuke flinched as the snakes that made of the freak's arm snapped at him at once, as if on command. The man laughed at his discomfort, before drawing the snakes back.

"My point is," the man continued, "that you are still just a boy. You can grow as much as you want, and be as powerful of a human as you desire, but you will never sit on the same threshold as the monsters. If you want to be truly strong — strong enough to face your brother— you are going to need the strength of a monster."

The man then leaned forward. His yellow eyes seemed to glow.

"I can give you that power Sasuke. All you are going to need to do is—"

"You get away from him!" an angry voice screamed. What could only be described as a roar reverberated off the tall trees of the Forest of Death. A branch, abnormally large and about the size of a car, hurtled through the air at the two. The Snake, eyes only slightly amused, didn't even dodge. His snakes simply expanded to entangle the branch as if it were simply a stick.

"And I thought you were out for the count, girl." The Snake hissed. Sakura responded by glaring. She stood on an opposite branch from the two, though "standing" was a relative term. She was panting heavily, and her knees wobbled as she spent what remained of her strength just to remain upright. "You failed to overpower me with your psychic abilities, and now you fail to save your friend. You really are a failure, aren't you?"

Sakura hissed. She raised her hands as she channeled her psychic abilities once more. The branch currently being held by the Snake _crunched_ as she forced it against the man's grip.

"I am many things," Sakura yelled. "But I am no failure. I know about monsters, and I know that it is our job to protect the people from them! You might be strong, but you are only strong in your evil. I will eradicate you and your kind from my world, and I will keep you from my friend!"

The Snake, amused at her words, chuckled. "Big words, girlie, but for all your talk you can't overpower me. You can barely even stand. What makes you think that you could stop me?"

Here Sakura smiled. Sweat fell down her large forehead like waterfalls, but still she struggled to push the branch just a little further. The man's hold was resolute, and barely faltered under the girl's psionic push, but still she tried.

"Because I am human. And we humans persevere."

The Snake laughed. It wasn't a good sound. It was grating and scratchy and putrid all at once. It sent shivers like used oil down Sasuke's back.

"Then persevere, girl. I would like to see how long you can hold onto that hope."

And, as if he weren't trying at all, the Snake broke the psionic hold on the branch in his hands. With pure might alone he overpowered Sakura, and Sasuke could only watch as the easily one ton of wood flew towards his pink haired teammate. Concentration broken, Sakura couldn't wield her powers in time to catch the projectile, and it slammed through her perch and her without even slowing down.

Sasuke was screaming before he even realized it. His arms, once drained of any power, clawed at the leg pinning him to a branch.

"You fiend! You asshole! You _monster_!" Sasuke howled. His teeth gnashed as he glared at the man who even now grinned smugly down at him.

"Yes, I am a monster, but I am also the monster that dispatched you and your team by himself. You efforts have been, and will always be, useless before me."

Sasuke, though hearing the man's words, couldn't care less about them. He thrashed against his restraints as his nails dug into the man's skin. It didn't seem to bother him, however. The Snake simply stood there, eyes alight in dark amusement.

"Your team is gone, there is no one left to restrain me." The Snake then opened his mouth. Sasuke wasn't surprised to see that the man's maw was like a snake's as well. "Not that there was any to begin with. I am Lord Orochi, the King of the Monsters, and soon you will be amongst my kind as well. You should consider yourself lucky. You will soon be a subject of the strongest being in existence."

And it was here, with doom impending, that Sasuke found some small light in the dark situation. A small, impish grin grew on his face as he thought of the last words to spit in the man's face.

"Strongest being? I wouldn't know about that." Orochimaru stopped right before his teeth sunk into the boy's neck as he listened to his words. "I'm pretty sure Itachi would give you a run for your money."

The King of the Monsters bristled, but otherwise didn't respond. Sasuke kept talking.

"But even without him, I know for a fact that there is another whose power you could never rival. So-called _King of the Monsters_ , you are no match for Naruto. He is a beast beyond even your imagination."

To this, the Snake laughed. His stomached chortled with pleasure. "Naruto? That brat? And what could he possibly—"

The forest quite literally exploded as the body of Nekomata, the legendary giant tiger, went flying through the tree of the Forest of Death. A wave of destruction followed in its wake, and the tiger cat, to its credit, was only slightly unconscious.

From the dust of the debris came the very person of question. Naruto stalked into the, admittedly new, clearing with his fist outstretched and smoking. He didn't look the slightest bit exhausted. Behind him his ANBU guard were staring with mouths agape, though how anyone knew that through their full-face masks was improbable.

Though, looking at the damage so casually caused, that was probably the most accurate assumption.

"So you survived," he said, voice a combination of excitement and nonchalance. "You can definitely be my pet."

The Snake— King of the Monsters and Lord Orochi— just stared at the casual amounts of wonton destruction. He then turned back to Sasuke, only to see a resigned stare.

"That's what he could do," Sasuke said. He then turned his head. "Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto, whose hearing was unnaturally good, turned. "Hi Sasuke."

"Wanna help me out?" Sasuke asked. He gestured to the Snake Sannin above him.

"Not particularly, no." Naruto responded. He then turned back to his potential pet.

Sasuke had to resist the urge to facepalm. He forgot that he would have to convince the boy.

"Why is this day so long?" the boy asked himself as he prepared himself for an annoying conversation.


	13. Chapter 13: Lord Orochi

_**I know that this took a while, but...**_

 _ **Here you go. Update by this time next week.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter 13:

Lord Orochi

"Dear gods, Naruto! Just help us!" Sasuke shouted. His teeth ground together as he tried to convince Naruto what should have been common sense. "There doesn't need to be a reason for everything! A friend is asking you to do something, so do it!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know."

Sasuke stopped. His mouth moved, open and closed, for a few seconds before he managed to get words out. "So you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes. I'm dense, not stupid. I know that you're likely in trouble."

Hope bubbled in Sasuke's heart. "So you're going to help?"

Naruto turned back to the giant, mostly unconscious, monster cat.

"No."

Sasuke sputtered, an action that was only partly because of the foot that was still pushing him down into a branch. "What? But you just said—"

"I said that I understood your situation. Not that I'd help you. I still have a pet to tame."

And with that, the boy turned away from Sasuke and the Sannin. He paced towards the giant tiger with a determined look on his face. The cat, who was struggling to stay awake, glared defiantly back, but even it knew who was the greater amongst the two of them. Naruto stopped mere feet away from his new pet, and opened his mouth to speak, only to be showered in a spray of blood.

Naruto gaped.

The ANBU guards, who had just caught up, gaped.

Sasuke turned, eyes wide and face incredulous, to the man standing over him.

Orochimaru licked his blade, which was now shrinking down to a normal size, before cackling.

"All lesser monsters bow before me. Nekomata is impressive, but she is nothing compared to my magnificence."

Naruto hadn't responded. He ignored the snake man as he walked forward to place his hand on the cut running along the great tiger's neck. The life slowly drained out of her eyes, before her eyelids slowly fluttered closed. Naruto's head fell as he silently mourned the loss of his almost pet.

Sasuke, however, clawed even more fervently at Orochimaru's leg. "What have you done?" the boy gasped.

Orochimaru's yellow slit eyes darted back to his prey. "Why, I am simply helping you, Sasuke. You wanted his attention, no? Well, now we have it."

"I didn't want it like this!" Sasuke yelled. His hands clutched at his head as he softly whimpered. "We're all gonna die."

"Oh stop now," Orochimaru said. "He can't be that bad."

The ANBU squad, as a side, took one look at the situation and decided that it was above their pay grade.

"We're retreating," the ANBU Dragon said. "If the boss wants this situation handled, he can handle it himself."

The three ANBU squads then promptly used the Teleportation Technique to blur away. The clearing then fell into a silence, from which no living creature dared to make a sound. This silent vigil continued for several minutes before, finally, someone got fed up.

That someone was Orochimaru.

"So are we just going to stand here or—"

"Mine."

"Pardon me?" Orochimaru asked. He stared at the blond boy who even now didn't deign to turn to him. Instead, he had his arm outstretched and his finger pointed at the King of Monsters.

"Mine," the boy repeated. "You took my pet away from me, so you are going to be the replacement."

"I beg your pardo—" was all Orochimaru got out before the boy simply _appeared_ beside him. The King of Monsters had less than a millisecond to understand what was going on before a swung fist sent him careening through several trees and halfway across the forest.

Sasuke stared in horror at the blank fury on the boy's face.

"Mine," Naruto repeated, before jumping off in pursuit of the legendary ninja.

XxX

Sakura's head was spinning. Her entire body ached from her place beneath broken tree debris, and she had a headache that sent her entire skull throbbing.

But she was alive. She was still breathing.

She hadn't the concentration to catch the tree branch that was flung at her; her mind was dazed from when the Snake Sannin first broke her hold on the branch. As such she couldn't catch the projectile before it hit her, but she managed to throw a shield around her body. It protected her from the brunt of the impact, and then most of the impact of falling to the forest floor.

She survived the encounter, but there was no way she made it out unscathed.

"Holy Kunai," the young girl groaned. She was sure at least five different parts of her body had a broken _something_ in it. She could barely move without pain flaring somewhere and sending a million and one sensations to her already addled mind. It was so overwhelming that she decided to just rest where she was.

Then an explosion happened, and Sakura realized that she wouldn't have the time to do such a thing.

The pinkette tried to raise herself from the ground, but the sheer amount of foliage on her was massive. The branch broke many other branches and parts of trees as it followed her down, and while _it_ didn't land on her directly, a lot of the broken debris did. The pressure weighing her down wasn't oppressive, but it wouldn't allow her to get up very easily, and her shattered psyche wouldn't be able to lift it all on her own.

Sakura slowly lowered herself back down. Her head rest against a rock, but it wasn't so bad. At least she wasn't dealing with what was happening out there.

Her body started to feel cold, and her eyes slowly closed against her wishes. She felt tired, so very tired, and maybe, she thought, she could rest for a bit…

"Naruto!" she heard her saner teammate scream, and her eyes snapped open.

No.

There was no way that he was here.

"Help me!" Sasuke roared.

No. There was only one person who Sasuke would reliably ask for help. Desperately, the pinkette reached out mentally in order to assess the situation.

One person was hopeful. They were also prideful. That was Sasuke.

One was haughty. They, too, were prideful. Most likely the Snake.

One was a dark emptiness, completely devoid of any emotion, thought, or any semblance of being. This person made Sakura frown as she felt her own being sucked into the bottomless and ravenous void that was this person's emotional spectrum.

That was Sai. Sakura wondered where he got off to.

And, finally, there was one last person. _They_ weren't so empty, but they were simple. _Anger. Taken. Revenge. Kitty. Pet. Mine_.

No fear from being in the presence of a Sannin. No doubt in his ability. Just pure, simple, one-minded determination.

Naruto had descended onto the battlefield. Sakura pushed herself harder. She had to get out of here.

Sakura, past the pain, pushed against the debris trapping her on the ground. She tried to flex her powers, but it was to no avail. Her head felt like it was splitting in two, and her nose started to bleed. She collapsed back to the ground but didn't stay there. She had to escape.

If Naruto destroyed a part of the village for such a weak enemy as the slime monster, she didn't want to see what he did to someone as strong as the Snake Sannin.

She didn't even want to think about why he was so angry.

"Come on," Sakura grunted. Her broken bones pushed against her organs as she struggled with the branches. "Come _on_."

It was as she was pushing that a hand came down and pulled with her. She looked up to see Sasuke, battered and bruised but still alive, looking back down at her.

"I knew you were alive," Sasuke said. "You survived Naruto's punch. A little branch like that couldn't kill you."

Sakura almost smiled at the jibe. There were bigger things happening right now, however. She worked together with Sasuke and managed to get most of the debris off her. Slipping out was just a matter of flexibility at that point, which she was easily capable of. Sasuke wasted no time in slipping her arm over his shoulder, before helping her limp off in the opposite direction of where she sensed Naruto go.

"I know you could sense them. I felt your power brush against my mind. You were scouting." Sasuke said. Sakura nodded. "We need to go. Naruto is _pissed_ and I don't wanna be in the same part of the world he's in when he explodes."

Sakura nodded. Together the two limped away to what they hoped was the outskirts of the Forest of Death.

Screw the Chuunin Exams. Better to live to gain the title another day.

XxX

"Lord Hokage!" an ANBU member screamed. Here 'scream' is a relative term, because ANBU members were never frantic. Rather, the ANBU spoke slightly louder than usual, a fact that drew Hiruzen's attention immediately.

"What is wrong, Ferret?" the Hokage asked. He set down his pen and sat up in his chair. A part of his mind realized that this was one of the soldiers that he sent to watch Naruto, but the urgent tone overrode that concern.

"The Snake Sannin Orochimaru has been sighted in the Forest of Death, sir." The ANBU, for all his training, seemed to shake. "He has been engaged by Genin Naruto Uzumaki and—"

"Wait," Hiruzen said. He had bolted out of his chair at the mention of his wayward student, but something stopped him. He slowly set down his staff and returned to his seat. "Repeat that."

Ferret hesitated. He didn't like the look in his leader's eye. He repeated himself anyway. "The Snake Sannin Orochimaru has been si—"

"No," Hiruzen said. He had a hand massaging his temple now. "I got that part. What about after it?"

"He has engaged Genin Naruto Uzumaki—"

"There," Hiruzen said. "That part. He engaged _Naruto_."

The ANBU stuttered. "Y-Yes, sir."

Hiruzen sighed. He let his head fall into his hands as he let the words rattle around in the ANBU's head. He gave Ferret a whole minute to dissect his own words, then another to prepare himself for the disappointment.

"So do you understand?"

"Understand what, sir?"

And then his head fell back into his hands. The old ninja rubbed at his temples before reaching for his pipe. He didn't know that it was going to be one of _those_ days, but he supposed that it was his fault for not suspecting.

"Orochimaru is in the Forest," Hiruzen said. His voice was level as he said it.

"Yes, sir."

"And so is Naruto."

"That is correct, sir."

"And you saw fit to come inform me… why exactly?"

"Because we need someone to take care of the traitorous Sannin!" the ANBU reported. "There is no one strong enough in the village besides you."

"And… run by me who is in the jungle again?"

The ANBU, once more, hesitated. He could sense the ire in the Hokage's mannerisms.

"Orochimaru…"

"And?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yes, quite." The old man started stuffing his pipe with tobacco. "And you said that Naruto was slighted by my wayward student, no?"

"Yes…" Ferret responded.

"Well, I feel like the problem is going to sort itself out, then."

Ferret made to respond, but the second he opened his mouth an earthquake shook the foundations of the village. Screams of pain that sounded eerily reminiscent of a snake hissing could be heard from the general direction of the testing grounds.

"That… that can't be…" Ferret whispered. "I heard he was strong, but…"

"By this point I've accepted that there are some things in this life that I'll never understand." He leaned back in his chair. A small Fire-Style technique was enough to light his pipe. He took a deep drag before finally swiveling his chair around. His office overlooked most of his village, a sight that included the Forest of Death. He stared fondly at it. "I had planned to teach Orochimaru a lesson myself, but it seems like some problems really are best left to the next generation."

Another explosion sounded through the village. It shook the foundations of the building and rattled the glass of the Hokage's window. The ANBU stumbled as the shockwave hit him, but Hiruzen —being as old and wizened as he was— foresaw the whole event and picked up his cup of tea before it could be displaced.

He waited until the tremors stopped to take a sip. The green tea, with two lumps of sugar, was the perfect temperature to enjoy.

"Ferret?" The Hokage asked. The ANBU member snapped to attention.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do me a favor. Go and survey the battle taking place between my wayward student and young Naruto. If he survives, come and get me."

The ANBU swallowed the spit in his mouth. "By ' _he_ ' do you mean Naruto or…"

"I mean Orochimaru." Hiruzen cut in. "Now be off."

Not one to disobey a direct order, even one that placed him in such immediate danger, Ferret scurried off. The Hokage watched as he left, then turned his attention back to his window.

"Naruto must be really upset to make a dust cloud that huge," Hiruzen mused. He sipped his tea in time with the tremors and silently hoped that his village would survive the encounter.

XxX

"What is going on?" Orochimaru screeched. His clothes were battered and disheveled, and his normally shiny hair was an absolute mess akin to a bird's nest. His right arm currently hung limply at his side, the bones broken beyond use, and the muscles in his legs were so overused that it hurt to move at all, let alone at the speed he currently needed to. All in all, he had some serious problems that needed immediate attention.

None of them _could_ be attended to, however. If he stopped, even for a second, a five-foot-tall nuke would obliterate him from existence.

"Stop moving," the Uzumaki mumbled. His blue eyes were dull as he _blipped_ from existence once more. Orochimaru, having already seen this, been through it, and had the broken bones to show for it, didn't stop to look around. He channeled as much chakra as he could to his feet and blurred away.

The instant he did so, the tree that he was standing on ceased to be. It didn't break apart. It didn't vaporize. It simply ceased to be.

Orochimaru wasn't sure how he felt about such things.

"I said stop moving," Naruto said. His voice was a low drone as he stared directly at where Orochimaru landed. His fist, pulled back from a punch, sat holstered near his side.

Orochimaru almost gaped as he saw that there wasn't even smoke from the attack left emanating from it. The boy simply stood there.

"Wh-why would I do that?" Orochimaru asked. He tried to keep his voice as lilting as it normally was, but even he could hear the ambient fear in it. He tried to swallow the trepidation, but…

Well, there was still a section of the ground from where Orochimaru just narrowly dodged a stomp that was simply _missing_. The resulting hole went down farther than Orochimaru cared to test.

Honestly, the Snake Sannin was starting to feel as if he was in over his head.

Naruto wasn't feeling the same. Fear didn't exist in him. He pointed at Orochimaru, scowled for good measure, and said:

"You took my pet, so you must pay for it. Servitude or blood, I don't care which." Naruto clenched his fist. "But you _will_ pay for it."

Scratch that, the Snake Sannin was _definitely_ over his head, here. The amount of bloodlust leaking out of the boy was palpable. Subtly, the Snake Sannin raised his one good arm to prepare a mud clone to distract the little freak.

That arm was snatched away. Orochimaru didn't even feel it happen. One second he was preparing an attack, the next he could see his arm being crushed by the blond boy.

To his credit, the King of Monsters did not wail. He took his dismemberment like a champion and simply stared at the stump where his arm used to be.

"I suppose I should have expected that," he said. In his mind, he knew that no one would blame him for _not_ suspecting that his arm would be swatted off like a twig off a branch, but with the way the day had been going he expected more of himself.

Naruto hadn't responded to the witty banter. In fact, he hadn't responded to anything that Orochimaru had been saying the entire fight. He frowned when Orochimaru had tried to shed his old body for a new one, and then pulled the man out of the husk of his broken body by the neck, before breaking him all over again. That had been the _only_ time that the boy emoted, however, and it taught Orochimaru not to use that technique again.

So his body was broken, he had no way to repair it, and no way to escape.

Welp.

Go for broke.

"Eight Branches Technique!"

XxX

Naruto was expecting a lot of things from the creepy man. He was expecting some sort of laser eye beams, now that the man had lost access to its arms. He was expecting some kind of advanced kicking style of fighting. He was expecting… maybe… some kind of tongue attack? He certainly was a fan of using it early in the fight.

He wasn't expecting the man to explode into a mass of wriggling white snakes. Naruto, caught off guard by the sheer absurdity of it, was washed away by the river of scales. By the time he righted himself, the monstrous creature was done forming. Orochimaru was no longer a creepy man with a penchant for hissing. He was now a creepy eight-headed monster snake giant. With hair.

" **AHAHAHAHAHAHA** ," the monster cackled. It spoke from all eight of its heads, creating an odd surround sound effect. " **FOOL. YOU HAVE PUSHED ME TO USE MY TRUE FORM! NOTHING CAN DEFEAT ME AS I AM NOW!** "

Naruto stared up at it. He wondered how the man controlled all eight heads at once.

" **MY SCALES ARE IMPENETRABLE, MY CHAKRA UNENDING, AND MY STRENGTH UNMATCHED!** " The monster then swung its eight tails, felling countless trees in the process.

" **I think it's a hive mind situation** ," the Kyuubi supplied. He was watching the scene from within Naruto's head, and he was just as mystified.

"No, no," Naruto said. "Then the heads would be moving the same as well. See? Some are wriggling left, while some are wriggling right. No hive mind."

" **AND NOW, I WILL SHOW YOU MY POWER. YOU WILL NEVER OVERCOME M—** "

Naruto snatched the head from the monster's neck. It wriggled in the air for a second before collapsing to the ground in a lifeless tremor.

Naruto dropped the dismembered head, which was bigger than his body, and grimaced as its eyes rolled to the back of its head.

"Alright, couldn't hear myself think," Naruto said while dusting himself off. "Now what were you saying, Fox?"

" **Do you think he practiced?** "

Naruto shook his head. "No, more like it's something that may have become instinctu—"

" **NO!** " the monster roared. " **I WILL NOT BE BESTED LIKE THIS**. **I AM THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR!** "

And then, in a maneuver that neither boy nor fox expected, the monster regrew its head. The creature made disgusting _slick_ noises as the new head grew from the stump of the old one, before roaring its victory to the world.

" **I AM OROCHIMARU, AND I AM** _ **PERFECTION**_ **,** " it roared. It turned its attention back to Naruto, only for the boy to rip _three_ heads off this time.

The three heads collapsed to the ground, forming a morbid ring around the boy. Naruto stared at it.

"Well, that's interesti—"

" **ENOUGH!** " the monster roared. " **I WILL BE RESPECTED**."

And without ceremony, the creature swung its eight tails, catching Naruto and the tree he stood on, and causing the biggest earthquake yet.

XxX

"What was that?" Sakura screamed. The ground fell, then rushed up to meet her, easily wrenching her out of Sasuke's grip and back onto the ground. The Uchiha wasn't much better. He stayed upright for the first tremor and fell for the second.

"Is that Naruto?" Sasuke asked. The tremors didn't grow any weaker, rather, they seemed to have grown stronger. "Can you check, Sakura?"

The pinkette didn't respond. Instead, she closed her eyes and attempted to concentrate amidst the earthquake. Her mind wandered, moving through the forest to where she though the two were fighting, only to be repelled once she got within range.

"I can't," Sakura hissed through grit teeth. "They're too strong. The sheer power in the air isn't allowing me to get through."

Sasuke muttered a curse. He braced himself against a tree to weather the next quake and, when it subsided, he wasted no time in scooping Sakura off the ground.

"Then we keep moving. The farther away we get from them the better."

Sakura nodded, not being need to be told twice. Get away from the fighting freaks? Sign her up.

The two limped away from catastrophe together. Hopefully they would survive the Forest. Whatever was happening over there was sure to be a fight of epic proportions.

XxX

Orochimaru wailed as, once again, Naruto severed a head from its body. The boy's face was emotionless as he tossed the dismembered appendage away. The monster tried to retaliate, but in doing so only hurt itself. Its tails whipped around to catch the boy who was standing on its back, but the boy leapt into the air. The remaining tails managed the catch him, but the impact broke the bones in those tails.

Naruto, now sent careening through trees, didn't seem any worse for the wear. He emerged from the crater he was smacked into with just as much boredom as when he first started the fight.

" **What… WhAt are YoU?** " Orochimaru said around ragged breaths. He had had to regenerate many heads from the brat's onslaught, and none of them ever managed to last for very long. He was running out of chakra very quickly, causing his transformation to weaken. Soon he would be little more than a collapsed mess.

Naruto, for that matter, was not perturbed. He wasn't even tired. He cocked his head and stomped his feet and just stared. Gone was the glare and the anger, replaced by cold indifference.

"I'm a ninja for fun," was his response. He didn't wait for Orochimaru's next words. "And you're boring me. I wanted you to be my pet snake, but you're too unruly. I'm going to have to put you down."

Orochimaru bristled at that. He disregarded the fact that he was being trounced to leer with eight pairs of eyes.

" **YOU? PUT** _ **ME**_ **DOWN? WhAt NoNSeNse!** "

"Serious Series: Serious Punch."

XxX

The Chuunin hopefuls all scurried to the ends of the lines, either inching or fully hiding away from the orange monstrosity that stood nonchalantly in the middle of the arena. The only ones stupid enough to stand near the boy were Kiba and Sasuke, and even then they didn't quite _stand_ next to him.

"That was you making all that noise, wasn't it?" Kiba all but demanded. He practically rode the boy with how much he leaned on him.

"Of course it was him," Sasuke responded. "No one else is that stupidly overpowered."

The rest of Naruto's class just stared at them. Hinata was trying to inch closer, but she was rebuffed by Shino.

"Are you going to confess?" the bug boy asked.

"No."

"Then leave him be."

Naruto, amongst all this, was trying his hardest to ignore everyone. Orochimaru had been an interesting fight. Not the most exciting —that honor belonged to Guy— but an interesting fight anyway. He wouldn't let his classmates get him down.

So this was what greeted Hayate as he entered the Arena. A bunch of children either squabbling or trembling at the sight of a single, short boy. To the man's credit he didn't even look twice. He looked to the paper in his hand and started on his practiced speech. After several moments of starting, stopping, and starting over again, he just tossed the script and adlibbed

"Too many children made it through the Death Forest," he said. "I'm not sure how, with the localized earthquakes, but you did. In order to even the odds we decided to do a preliminary tournament. You win if you don't die."

The Chuunin hopefuls glanced at the Orange Beast. His face was as passive as theirs were fearful.

"First round is Genin Naruto Uzumaki versus Genin Aiko Yamanaka!"

And just like that, Naruto's face fell.


	14. Chapter 14: Aiko Yamanaka

_**A bit later than I thought, but here you go, almost a week later. A couple of things need to be addressed this chapter, so I hope you read this through.**_

 _ **UPDATE TO YOU GUYS:**_

 _ **For those of you who don't go back and incessantly read my work, as you should, there is a girl in this chapter known as "Aiko." Her name in previous chapters was "Jessie" and she was Naruto's first fried, as well as the second character introduced. Her name has changed because I've been getting overwhelming backlash on immersive-ness regarding her Western name, and decided that yeah, that made sense.**_

 _ **So she's Aiko Yamanaka now.**_

 _ **Second thing. I have a blog now, where I upload original works. If you wanna read through it, or if you guys are interested in some slightly non-humor stuff and wanna support me, let me know. I will upload a link if you guys are interested, and any feedback for that will greatly help my writing, giving you guys better stories.**_

 _ **Finally, comment any feedback on this as well. Together, we will write better stories for everyone here.**_

 _ **Thank you.**_

* * *

In terms of looks, she hadn't changed much at all, at least to Naruto. Her long, blonde hair ran down her back like a waterfall of gold: shining and resplendent in the light. She had grown taller, just a bit, so that she was a whole head above Naruto. A simple purple jacket was buttoned up almost to the top, showing just a bit of her collarbone, and black skintight shorts and black and purple sneakers completed the outfit.

Something new, however, was the purple clip keeping her hair out of her eyes. It looked cute on her, Naruto noted.

Aiko didn't waste any time. She made her way over to the boy and stood imperiously not five feet away. She postured, a wry smile on her face, for a whole minute without talking. Her pale blue eyes seemed to bore into the boy like a drill, and Naruto did something that no one thus far had ever seen him do.

He fidgeted. The people around him almost lost it.

The first to react was Sasuke. To him, Naruto was an immovable bastion of strength. Right now, it seemed as if the wind could knock him over. He stalked up to the blonde boy, the extra competitors not having been required to leave yet, and hooked his arm around Naruto's shoulder.

"Hey, idiot, what's wrong with you?" he asked. He hadn't meant it as an insult, that was just the way he talked to the nearly mute boy. That didn't stop the Yamanaka girl from stiffening, however. Her smile faltered, just slightly, but no one seemed to notice.

Naruto was too distracted by Aiko to pay it any mind. He didn't respond to Sasuke's taunt. Unfortunately, Sasuke had mistaken it for the boy's regular state of being. He glared at Naruto for a few seconds more, before dragging his eyes over to the Yamanaka. "She someone you know? Is she a freak like you?"

Now, those that knew Naruto didn't see anything wrong in Sasuke's statement. Some, like Guy, would even take such a statement in pride. Aiko, however, was not such a person. Her eyebrow twitched at the boy's words.

Kiba, also not a person adept at reading the mood, chose this moment to stalk over. He laced his arm around the boy as well, but unlike Sasuke he wrenched the boy closer to him by the neck.

"Who is this broad?" Kiba asked. There was a faint bit of a snarl in his voice as he talked. Kiba particularly didn't enjoy a Yamanaka's presence. He tolerated Ino, but Ino was special. "She bothering you?"

Aiko's hands started to twitch as well. Her smile had completely disappeared off her face by now, but she had managed to keep her emotions in control. No one seemed to be noticing the impending explosion, however. No one, of course, except Ino herself.

Ino knew a Yamanaka about to explode, being one herself. She had stepped forward to pull her best friends away, but Sakura had jolted forward ahead of her.

Ino knew how Sakura got around Naruto. She also, being a researcher of psychology like all Yamanaka, noticed the telltale sounds of anger leaking out of Aiko whenever Naruto was shown aggression.

Ino wisely took cover.

"Oh no," Sakura all but yelled. Her psionic energy was responding to her exasperation, and her hair floated gently on the wave of her power. "I'm not dealing with this any more than I have to. Let go of the little psycho and let's get up to the stands."

Sakura then reached out, hands in a sort of claw, to rip the two boys away from the most dangerous person she knew. To Kiba and Sasuke, they were suspecting a psionic wave to wash over them, and thus tensed. To Aiko, who knew nothing about the three, she just saw a third person coming to bully the poor blonde.

And that would not stand.

"Enough!" the Yamanaka screamed. Her voice rippled through the air and caught the younger children off guard. Kiba and Sasuke flinched, and they suddenly backed away from her, and in the process left Naruto behind as well. Sakura fully winced. The girl's voice, and her strong mental state, all but stunned her. Seeing the three offenders back off, Aiko smiled a vindictive smile, and rushed over. She scooped the blonde into her arms and dragged him away from the bullies.

"I knew I shouldn't have left him alone in there," she muttered. Naruto was now holstered firmly in her arms, but judging by how limp he was, he wasn't fully functioning. "I knew I should have stayed behind, but _Kiban_ assured me that he would be okay." The girl then sucked her teeth. "I knew Little Naruto wouldn't get along with those bullies. Why is everyone in the Academy such a jerk?"

The other students, especially the ones who had seen Naruto restructure landscapes, stared with wide eyes and open mouths. They looked from Naruto, who could tank a blow from Guy and move faster than light, to the woman nuzzling him, and then back again.

Come again?

"Come again?" Hinata asked. Normally she would restrain herself from speaking her mind, but her mind was a little preoccupied.

Aiko turned from snuggling her favorite blonde to glare at the Hyuuga heiress. It was so heated, so full of hate, that Hinata had to take a few steps back.

"You," she said, pointing at Hinata. Her finger then moved to point at everyone else in the arena. "And you, and you, and you. You're all so mean to him! He was bullied in school, and now you're bullying him here, too? Just cause he's a little smaller and a bit slower doesn't mean that you can make fun of him!"

Sasuke, who was easily several inches taller than Naruto, had never thought of the boy as "small."

"I'm taking my Little Naruto and leaving. He made Genin, so I can take him with me!"

And like that, the Yamanaka dragged Naruto away. Most were too preoccupied with the fact that _Naruto_ was being dragged away to do anything about it.

"Little Naruto?" Sasuke turned to the announcer. The man didn't have a response to the nickname. He was busy trying to reassemble his brain.

It wasn't until the girl was almost out of the arena that the first person regained their senses. It was, unsurprisingly, Sakura.

"Wait!" she shouted. Aiko stopped, though the glare she shot over her shoulder conveyed extreme disgust. "You can't just leave! We have a tournament to finish!"

"I don't care about the tournament," Aiko said with a huff. She squeezed Naruto deeper into her chest. "I got my little guy back, so I don't need anything else."

"But," Sasuke stammered. "What about him? Don't you care about his opinion?"

That seemed to take some air out of her sails. She shifted Naruto and held him by his whiskered cheeks.

"Do you want to keep fighting, Naruto? I won't stop you if you want to."

Naruto wasn't in any position to answer. His eyes went crossed as he tried to focus on the girl who was practically in his face. "I… bwah?"

Aiko jumped up, face beaming. Her next words came out in a chirp. "See? He doesn't care."

"That wasn't an answer!" Hinata all but screamed. Aiko's heated glare fell back on the heiress.

"I _think_ I would know the best about my Little Naruto. He doesn't want to fight in this big, stupid tournament. Look at him! He's still a runt!"

Once again, the entire stadium looked to the orange nuke that was being manhandled by a fourteen-year-old girl. Yeah, he was a bit on the short side, but that didn't excuse the mountain destroying power held within.

Aiko didn't seem to notice their confusion. She hammered on as if the entire stadium wasn't against her. "He's done so well getting this far, but he doesn't have to go any farther. I have no idea how he survived until this point, but I won't allow you all to bully him any longer."

"Us? Bully him?" Kiba said, his voice higher than normal. "Girl are you insane?"

Aiko pouted. "No, I'm not. People like you bullied him before and you've been doing it now. I've seen enough."

"But—" Sasuke tried to say, but he was cut off.

"I'm tired of your excuses!" Anger had finally overwhelmed the girl. Her voice repelled even the most stalwart of thought, and all were left bare before the Yamanaka's anger. "I'm taking Little Naruto, and that's that!"

And without wasting a second, the girl stalked out of the arena and back into the tower proper.

Those remaining were left wide eyed as they watched her saunter away.

"So…" Hayate mumbled. "… what do I do about the first round?"

XxX

"The _nerve_ ," Aiko muttered. She had been grumbling since she left the arena. Naruto was still caught in her headlock, and didn't have anything to say, so he was silent as he was dragged along. "First, they separate us, without even _asking_ my opinion. Then they don't put me on a team with Kiban, and _then_ , when I finally see you again after _years_ , they bully you? In front of my face?" The Yamanaka grunted. "The _nerve_!"

Naruto couldn't say anything. His mind was currently muddled. It was a fact that the Kyuubi didn't miss.

" **Naruto? Naruto are you okay**?"

"It's Aiko…" Naruto responded. He would usually respond to the Fox in his mind, but that part of him wasn't working at the moment.

Aiko, however, didn't know that. She heard Naruto's soft-spoken words and cooed. She ushered the boy in front of her and pinched at his cheeks again. "Yes, Little Naruto! It's me! It's big sister Aiko!"

Something in Naruto melted at that. The Kyuubi felt the influx of emotions from the boy and nearly gagged.

" **Boy, what's wrong? What's going on**?"

" _It's Aiko!_ " Naruto responded, and this time he did it in his head. It did nothing to mask the unashamed joy Naruto had felt, or the unbridled relief he felt at hearing her voice again.

" **That's Aiko? That's the girl you've been obsessed with**?"

Naruto wasn't focused on the Fox's words, however. He heard them but was immediately distracted by Aiko's words. He hadn't exactly listened to them either, but he heard them.

"I'm taking you away from those bad men. You're going to come meet my team, and I'll even let you meet my sensei! How does that sound?"

Truthfully? Naruto didn't care. But this was _Aiko_. So he nodded his head and let her guide him by the hand.

XxX

Back in the arena pandemonium had broken loose.

"What do you mean _he's gone_?"

"Holy Log, Holy Log, Holy Log…"

"It's okay… It's going to be okay…"

Sasuke turned to Sakura. He opened his mouth. Sakura glared at him. He closed it.

"I'm not sure what's going on," she said, her words straining out through grit teeth. "But I just saw a girl intimidate an entire room of people, then drag off a human natural disaster. I'm going to need some time to meditate on it."

The esper then walked away. She wasn't very content with the new dose of insanity. Sasuke turned to the one other person he could stand, only to see him exploding.

"Who the hell was that broad?" Kiba yelled. He was rampaging, tearing up dirt and exam entrants alike. "Who the hell is she to just come in here and take my buddy like that?"

Sasuke turned from him as well. It was a long shot, but the Uchiha had to dig into his reserve pool of acquaintances. For once he wasn't disappointed. He took one look at Ino to see her staring right back at him. Onyx eyes met pale green for exactly one second before Ino sauntered her way over.

"Like what you see, Broody?" she asked, her selfsame teasing smirk on her face. Sasuke scoffed but couldn't keep the smile from his face.

"I see you haven't changed, Ino. How is the ninja life treating you?"

Ino huffed. Her hands were soon holstered on her hips in true Yamanaka fashion. "Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Doing stupid menial chores. We got, like, one C-rank mission and we didn't even get into anything interesting on it." She then took on a look Sasuke could only describe as _vindictive_. "Nothing like what you guys were doing. I heard that you saw Naruto on one of your missions?"

Sasuke, at the mention of the Wave mission, shuddered. His eyes got this look as he stared off into the distance. Ino didn't need words to understand what was going on.

"He did something stupid, didn't he?" Sasuke nodded. There was only one person that they could be talking about. She didn't need to drop Naruto's name.

"Speaking of which," Sasuke said. "What's happening with him? That girl was part of your clan, right? Who is she?"

Here Ino hesitated, something that Sasuke had never seen her do. Ino, even when wrong, went about everything with confidence. He let her take a moment to compose herself, a moment which Ino seemed to spend thinking.

It took her a minute, but she finally started speaking. "Sasuke, have you ever had a prodigy in your clan?"

The image of Itachi came to mind. Sasuke's fists clenched as he remembered the endless praises that were lauded on his older brother. "Yes," he muttered.

Ino noticed Sasuke's discomfort but knew better than to comment on it. She shouldered on. "Well, Aiko Yamanaka is one such prodigy." Ino walked ahead. The contestants were dismissed while the higher-ups debated on what to do. Sasuke followed without a word. "Did you know that, in addition to our mind techniques, that Yamanaka ninja have to learn psychology?"

He didn't know that. Sasuke chose to grunt in response.

"Yeah. Most people don't. It's kind of an obscure thing amongst the clans. The Akimichi are established cooks, the Nara rear deer, the Inuzuka are veterinarians, and the Yamanaka study the mind." Ino shrugged. "It helps us not go crazy when we're not on missions. That it also helps with our ninja arts isn't so bad."

Sasuke nodded, letting Ino continue her rant.

"Well, amongst the Yamanaka, Aiko seems to be the most predisposed to it. Without using ninja arts, she's able to predict a person's mood, personality, mannerisms… even what they're going to do or say next. She's a truly fearsome ninja, and an excellent Yamanaka. The only reason she isn't Chunin already is because her sensei wanted to make sure that she was ready."

Sasuke frowned. "What? But that's impossible. Did you not just hear her call Naruto a 'runt?' She thinks he's a child! Her 'ability' can't be all that good if she can't read the power just underneath that ugly orange clothing."

"To be fair, he _is_ a child. We all are."

Sasuke grunted. "You don't get to be a _child_ anymore once you wipe a mountain off the face of the earth."

Ino chuckled. "Maybe so. But he _is_ a child and she was right in that he's quite a bit shorter than us. To be able to overlook all that power is simply unbelievable, however. Even I could tell that he is a walking nuke, and I haven't even seen him do anything outrageous. Besides, you know, picking up that mountain."

"And fighting Guy in the air."

"And destroying the Industrial District."

"And scaring the ANBU."

"Listen," Ino cut in. "We _all_ know about Naruto's feats. It would be hard for us to ignore them, seeing as he either creates _explosions_ or _earthquakes_ whenever he fights."

"Then how does _she_ ignore it? She's the psychology prodigy. Even she must have noticed how disbelieving we were of her behavior."

"Well…" Ino said, and there returned to hesitation. "For all of her prodigious ability… Aiko is a bit of an… an idiot."

"What?" Sasuke's tone was dull.

"She's an idiot. A blockhead. A dunce. She's a bona-fide idiot, and only when it comes to one person."

Sasuke stopped walking. Ino turned to him. "No."

"Yes," she muttered. "All of her intellect and fearsome ability goes out the window whenever she talks about—"

XxX

"Naruto!" Aiko cooed. In her hand was a pair of chopsticks that were nearly bending under the weight of the noodles they were holding. "Say 'aah!'"

Naruto, sat in his chair and bibbed up as he was, couldn't resist. He didn't say anything, but he obediently opened his mouth. The noodles were stuffed in there without a second to waste, and the boy set to chewing. He had to finish before Aiko could scoop up some more ramen, or she would complain.

" **This is embarrassing, boy**." The Kyuubi was not amused with what was going on, and he wasn't shy about voicing his displeasure. " **You're a being of nigh unstoppable power. You should not be being fed like some sort of infant**."

Naruto didn't respond. He swallowed the beef ramen noodles, that were frankly delicious, and prepared himself for the next scoopful. When Aiko joyously brought up another serving, he opened his mouth before she could prompt him to. The unabashed joy on her face sent warmth shuddering through Naruto, and for the first time in a while the boy felt vulnerable.

Honestly, the Fox couldn't tell what was going on.

The rest of the afternoon went as such, and soon the two were done with their meal. Aiko dabbed at Naruto's face to remove any excess broth, and Naruto, seemingly paralyzed, could do nothing but sit there and take it.

"Honestly, you're still as messy as ever. You haven't grown up at all, have you Little Naruto?"

"Mmf," Naruto replied. The handkerchief was smothering his mouth. He wanted to protest that claim of hers, but Aiko didn't seem to want to hear it.

"Honestly, I don't understand why you hang out with those… those idiots." Aiko had taken to pouting. Naruto couldn't look away. "I know that you don't like talking, but you can't let them walk all over you like that."

Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen and the person serving them, had to take a moment. He had almost dropped his cooking tools upon hearing that someone could "walk over" Naruto and the sheer absurdity of it all made him stop. He turned, aged eyes looking for deceit. Upon finding none, he needed to take yet another moment to collect himself. That he had someone so hopelessly deluded in his establishment was an event that he wasn't going to just let roll by.

"Might I interest you in—"

And then the sharpest, most dangerous eyes he'd ever seen snapped to him. Predatory and bestial, they seemed to take him apart on a fundamental level, leaving nothing behind.

"I don't know what suddenly crawled up your ass and laid an idea there, but I would stop you right now." Aiko's voice was cold, almost glacial. "I don't want your _deal_ to con me out of my money, and I don't want your sympathy either. I don't need a lesson on anything, nor am I some simple girl. I can take fine enough care of myself, Gramps."

Teuchi, to his credit, didn't flinch. He pulled back, reexamined his approach, and then continued.

"I see, my apologies," he said. He turned back to the batch of ramen he was making, and the girl turned back to doting over the boy.

So she wasn't a deluded fool, just a fool for Naruto. Understandable, he supposed.

"But anyway," Aiko cooed, and she seemed to have already forgotten the conversation that had just occurred. "You gotta learn to stand up for yourself, Little Naruto!"

Several ninja stopped their commute upon hearing Naruto's name. They were a squad of Chunin, led by a Jonin, and all of them knew of their strengths and weaknesses. They knew they were no match for Guy, one of the strongest ninja in the village, and as such weren't even in the same weight class as Naruto. To hear someone earnestly tell such a powerful entity that they had to "stand up" more was honestly unbelievable. They took one look at the girl, noted her appearance, then continued down the street.

"Hey," the Jonin said once they were out of earshot. "Avoid her. Such depravity shouldn't be mingled with."

His subordinates made no move to contradict him.

Back with the children, Naruto was being led by the hand once more. Aiko was more or less dragging the boy at this point, and Naruto wasn't looking to resist.

" **How much longer are we to be debased like this**?" The Fox asked.

Naruto didn't have an answer.

XxX

"Find her," the Hokage said. His voice was level, but the obscene amount of chakra bleeding into the air suggested a much more sinister temperament. "Find her and find _him_ and bring them both here _right now_."

The ANBU shuffled uncomfortably as they attempted to weather their leader's wrath. One, reluctantly, stepped forward.

"I-If I may pose a solution," the scared Boar ANBU said. He withered when the Hokage cast his glare on him but continued anyway. "We could just… disqualify them?"

The aged leader's eyes narrowed, and the ANBU shrunk back even more. In the end, however, the old man relented, and settled back in his seat. The oppressive aura hadn't dissipated, but it did lessen somewhat.

"Aiko Yamanaka is a prodigy that must not be overlooked. Her participation in the exam is a boon that would show off our prowess across the entire Elemental Continent. She _must_ be included."

The ANBU in the room bristled, most of them already knowing of Aiko's talent.

"But more than that," the Hokage continued. " _Naruto_ must participate. His power is unrivaled and should dispute all attempts at aggression from both major and minor powers."

The ANBU in the room nodded vehemently. _All_ of them knew of Naruto's unrelenting power.

"But even more than that…" the Hokage said, a shadow casting over his face. The ANBU stilled, knowing the tone in their leader's voice. "… he must participate because _I told him to_ and mountain destroying power or not, he will _not_ disobey his grandfather's orders. Find him, subdue him, and tell him that **I said for him to return to the arena** , then drag him back here. By his ear, if you have to."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

And with that, the most elite fighting force of the Land of Fire filed out of the stadium on a babysitting mission, to discipline a bunch of children.

No, the ridiculousness was not lost on anyone.

XxX

" **Brat** ," the Kyuubi said. He was surprisingly subdued. " **A thought occurs**."

Naruto didn't respond. He was being led through the thoroughfare of Konoha by the arm. Aiko had decided that it was far more profitable to have him be even closer than he was before. Still, he nodded mentally, and the Fox continued when he got the confirmation that the boy was listening.

" **We were in a stadium**."

Naruto nodded.

" **That was in a tower**."

Naruto nodded again.

" **That was in the middle of a deadly forest**."

He nodded.

" **I mean, it isn't deadly for us. Far from it.** "

Yup. That seemed about right.

" **But I think it should be noted that I do not remember traveling through it again. It is entirely possible that I simply blacked out, or wasn't paying attention, but I don't think that happened. Still, I will ask you, how did the girl get us through the Forest of Death**?"

Naruto shrugged.

" **I see** ," the Fox mumbled. " **Well, good luck with your psycho**."

And then the Fox disappeared from Naruto's conscious— the presence of his mind retreated from Naruto's senses. Rather than make any indication, he looked at the girl who even now looked simply radiant.

She had a smile on her face that stretched from ear to ear as she talked a mile a minute. The topics ranged from her time as Genin, to what she ate yesterday, to problems with Kiban and back again. Naruto paid attention to none of that, only paying the basest of attention to the melodic tone of her voice. Being so close to her, he could note the faint scent of her shampoo, and he decided that, then and there, wildflowers weren't so bad.

"So I made a mistake," she said, her brow furrowed. The frown on her face definitely didn't belong there, Naruto thought, and he would do whatever he could to remove it. "My team is back in the tower. We actually walked right past them when we stormed out."

 _She_ was the one who stormed out. He was dragged along in her rampage.

"But that's okay! Kiban's team didn't make it this year, and we're going to visit him instead. We could cheer him up for failing the exam!"

Naruto decided that he didn't want to visit Kiban. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted Aiko as far away from the dog boy as possible. He dug in his heels, and for once Aiko's unstoppable charge was stilled.

Violently, actually.

Aiko nearly collapsed as her adorable little underclassman suddenly became as immovable as the earth itself. Her whole body jerked as she attempted to keep walking, and the boy she was all but attached to had stopped.

"Wha- What's wrong, Little Naruto? We're going to see Kiban!"

"No," Naruto said. "I don't want to."

Aiko pouted again. Her hands were on her hips in no time, and Naruto could already hear the lecture forming.

"And why not? Kiban is a good friend of ours. He was always so nice to you."

Naruto shook his head. "No. Nice to you. He wasn't nice to me."

Aiko rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? What about that time that he gave you his pudding?"

"You told him to."

"And that time that he protected you from bullies?"

"You told him to."

"Oh, and that time he covered for you in class and helped you with homework?"

"Because you told him to."

Aiko grunted. "Well, he's been nice anyway, so we're going to see him!"

And like that they were moving again, Naruto much more reluctantly than before. They walked for nearly an hour, with Aiko taking up most of the conversation. They eventually reached a Training Ground that Naruto was not familiar with and was inside in a minute.

Like most training areas in Konoha, the place was densely forested. There were clear patches of dirt for people to spar and work out, but for the most part the area was shrouded in trees and shrubbery. Aiko led him straight to a clearing, assured in her path, and came across a team of four.

One was obviously taller. His huge, banded arms were crossed and the frown on his face as he watched two of the younger ninjas fight told Naruto that he was the sensei. Next to him was a boy of a much slender build, but with obvious musculature showing through his cotton button up shirt and standard ninja pants. He was the first to see Aiko and Naruto and waved excitedly before rushing over.

The two in the middle of the clearing were fighting. One was a girl with shaggy brown hair. She wore a furry coat and had red marks on her cheeks. Her face was set in a grimace, her mouth in a snarl which showed off her fanged teeth. She went for a swipe with her nails, which looked as sharp as any kunai, but the attack missed as her opponent stopped short. She overstepped and her opponent, a larger boy of similar look, took that moment to palm her in the gut.

The girl went down, howling all the way, while the boy that had beaten her turned to Aiko with a sneer.

"Your instincts are good, Kibari, but you'll need to use more than just instinct in a real fight," he said. His nose then twitched, and he concentrated for a moment.

Then he looked straight at Naruto and broke into a sprint.

He was on the orange boy in almost no time at all, and Naruto found himself scooped up into a hug by a boy taller than him by almost half his height.

"Little Naruto? Is that you? I haven't seen you in forever, little buddy!"

Naruto tried to pry the boy off of him, but for some reason he couldn't fight the energetic boy's grip. It took a minute, but Kiban finally relented, and dropped Naruto unceremoniously.

Naruto, of course, landed without incident. That didn't prepare him for the headlock that the Inuzuka placed him in.

"And you became a ninja, too, huh? Nice headband, little guy!"

Kiban then dug his knuckle into Naruto's skull. It was a classic noogie, and one done with almost no force at all, but Naruto was still annoyed by it. Memories of the academy came rushing back, and he almost couldn't stop himself from struggling against Kiban with all of his strength.

When he was a mere kid, such a struggle would just entertain the rough boy. Now that he was a ninja, using all of his strength was… excessive. So Naruto held back.

Holding back still wrenched Kiban off him.

"Oh ho!" Kiban yelled, recovering from Naruto's shove easily. "Someone's gotten stronger!"

Aiko chose this moment to step in. "Yup! He made it through the Forest of Death and everything!" She then sneered. "He even made it farther than you, dog breath."

Kiban bristled, but his mouth twitched into a smile that highlighted the competitive burn in his eyes. "Those weird earthquakes knocked us out before we could do anything. I'll definitely get in next year."

"I'll be a Chunin by then. Can you handle a whole year as my underling?"

"Oh ho," Kiban growled. But it wasn't aggressive. "I spend my life as basically your underling, anyway. What would the difference be?"

Throughout their conversation the two had been slowly inching closer together. There was something there, something in the way that they looked at each other, and the way that they talked to each other, that Naruto didn't like. His fist clenched, and he felt like punching something— anything, really— in order to itch at this… indescribable feeling clawing at his stomach.

But he knew that it would do more harm than good.

So he watched as Aiko and Kiban talked to each other.

And he felt powerless, weak.

And then he turned.

" **Brat** ," the Fox called. " **Where are you going**?"

"To get stronger," was Naruto's reply. "I'm still not strong enough."


	15. Chapter 15: Tenten

_**Little later than normal, I know. But you should look at the difference in update times for "That One Naruto Time Travel Thing." That was atrocious.**_

 _ **That being said, I might not upload more than once or twice a month. Not only is school coming up, but I'm kind of... not very well of financially? I literally can't afford to write like how I want to.**_

 _ **That being said, I will be giving you guys a schedule the next time we hear from each other. This is likely going to be the last "serious" chapter for a while, so don't worry about that.**_

 _ **As usual, favorite, follow, and let me know how well (or terribly) I'm doing. Remember: an author will likely spend more time reading constructive criticism than they will to read "lul u sux"**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter 15:

Opened Eyes

"Who was that?" Kibari all but growled, her words coming out from someplace deep in her throat. She had huffed her way over to the gathering of children on wobbly legs and ragged breaths. But she made it.

The two ninjas snapped out of their trance, now that someone had disturbed them. They blinked, coming to grips that a world existed outside of the two of them. They looked around, focused on Kibari, then blinked again.

"Huh?" Kiban asked. His cousin rolled her eyes. She was already used to his idiocy.

"Who was that little boy? I couldn't see the pup around the dirt in my face, but I smelled him." Kibari then sniffed the air. "He smelled… dangerous."

Aiko scoffed. She actually had the wherewithal to chuckle before answering. "Little Naruto? Dangerous? No way."

Kibari stiffened when she heard that name. Her exhausted muscles tense, and her jaw clenched. "I'm sorry, who did you say it was?"

Kiban ignored her, instead focusing on Aiko's words and _only_ Aiko's words. "Right! The little guy wouldn't harm a fly!"

"I'm sorry," Kibari said. "Did you say _Naruto_?"

"He's an adorable little bundle of energy!" Aiko screamed. "I just wanna cuddle him."

"Naruto? As in… _Uzumaki_?"

"He's a tiny gnat that needs protecting, to be honest…" Kiban muttered. He was immediately swiped by Aiko.

"Stop that! He's baby!"

"I'm sorry," Kibari cut in. She moved bodily in between the two in order to ensure she had their attention. "Did you mean _Naruto fucking Uzumaki_? Was he just in our training ground?"

Aiko and Kiban looked at one another, then back to Kibari. When they spoke, it was as one. "Yes?"

Kibari almost cursed at their idiocy. She took a minute to calm herself before speaking. "You mean _Naruto Uzumaki_ — the _Human Bomb_ , the _Walking Disaster_ , the _Orange Blondie—_ _that_ Naruto Uzumaki? We had a natural disaster in our training ground, and you two decided to play lovey-dovey rather than tell us anything?"

The two looked confused. Their frowns indicated that they had no idea what she was talking about.

"There is no way that you don't know about Naruto ' _Death Incarnate'_ Uzumaki."

"We know about Little Naruto," Kiban said. "I don't know about all the rest of that stuff."

Kibari actually growled here. She felt like throttling the two, but she resisted the urge, primarily because she was still tired. "There is no way. I refuse to believe that you two don't know about the boy who single-handedly destroyed a part of the village."

"What are you talking about?"

"Yeah," Aiko added. "Are you okay?" She put a hand to Kibari's forehead. She had no idea how close it was to being bitten off. "Little Naruto is a sweetheart."

And like that Kibari decided that, fatigue or not, she would take a bite out of at least one of them. She crouched, ready to pounce, when her partner finally made his way over to their part of the field. Their sensei was trailing along behind them. The look on his face was so obviously disappointed that it hurt.

"Hey," their third teammate— a boy by the name of Kazuhito— said. He was panting from the long run from the other side of the clearing. "Was that… Naruto Uzumaki…?"

The three nodded.

"Why was a natural disaster in our training grounds?"

XxX

" **You know** ," the Fox murmured. " **At a certain point these exercises become meaningless**."

Naruto didn't pay any mind to its words. His arms came down, then back up again, as he benched a weight above him. Somewhere in the background there were screams of terror, but he honestly didn't care enough to pay any attention to them either.

" **Are you finally going to talk to me**?" the Fox asked again. " **You don't have to keep it all in**."

Naruto grunted. Up. Down. The Fox never particularly cared for anything that he felt. Only that he was getting stronger. So he would get stronger. Up. Down.

" **That's not fair** ," the Fox said. " **I wanted you to make friends**."

Up. Stop. That was true. Why would the Fox want him to make friends?

" **Entertainment, mostly**."

Of course. Personal gain. Everyone did things for a reason. Everyone either hated you or pretended not to.

Or were Aiko.

But that was a moot point, now.

Up. Down.

The Fox sucked its teeth. The sound echoed throughout Naruto's head. " **But I also did it because I worried about you. No one, not even you, can last too long without companionship**."

"And what does that make you?" the boy asked. "Are you my companion now? After all these years, are you my _friend_?"

The Fox winced at the venom in that last word. The boy didn't seem to believe that he cared for him. Honestly, the Fox wasn't sure if that was true.

" **At the very least I can tell you that we're not enemies**."

Naruto huffed. Up. Down.

" **Boy. Tell me what's bothering you**."

Naruto didn't. He pushed the weight off him and walked away.

"Next exercise."

The Village Hidden in the Clouds collectively screamed as the mountain their village was on came crashing back down to the ground.

XxX

Aiko kicked a pebble. It bounced on the dirt road that was the Main Street of Konoha. People, mostly civilians, gave her a wide berth as they went about their jobs. There was something about a ninja, mostly their garish way of dress, that set them apart. No civilian wanted to have anything to do with someone that counted people like _Gai_ and _Naruto Uzumaki_ amongst their ranks.

And honestly? That was the problem.

Her team seemed to think that Little Naruto was some kind of monster. They said things like, " _he carries mountains_ " and, " _he massacres A-Rank ninja_." Aiko scoffed. That was impossible. She knew Little Naruto better than anyone, and the little guy could barely do a push-up the last time she saw him.

Granted, the last time that she saw him was years ago, but people don't change that much in that amount of time, surely. She certainly hadn't.

These thoughts plagued her as she walked through the thoroughfare. Civilians gave her dirty looks—ninja usually took to the roofs— but she didn't care. She was too preoccupied with her thoughts to think on anything else. Eventually she came across the ramen shop that Naruto had dragged her to earlier. Her nose scrunched when she looked at it.

Honestly, Naruto shouldn't have been eating at such an unhealthy establishment, but it was his celebratory dinner. She couldn't keep him from it. She made to walk away with a huff after seeing he wasn't there, when a voice wafted out from under the flaps.

"You haven't seen him either, have you Mr. Teuchi?" the girl asked. "Okay, that's fine. Just let me know if he comes back here."

And then a girl paced out of the stall, face set into a pout. Her brown hair was done up in two buns on either side of her head, and she wore a pink sleeveless qipao-style dress and khakis. She let the flaps of the store fall behind her, and was set to storm off on a mission, when her eyes roved over Aiko. She stopped in her rampage, only temporarily, before changing direction and storming over to her.

She stopped a few feet away, eyes squinted. "Hey, do I know you?"

Aiko shook her head. She would remember someone with a hairstyle that distinctive. "No, I don't believe we've ever met."

"Are you sure?" the girl asked. She took a step closer. "I feel like I know someone just like you. And I don't meet Yamanakas very often."

Now _that_ comment caught Aiko's attention. "Funny how you can piece together my clan when you don't see them often. Is there any reason why?"

The girl was, thankfully, oblivious to Aiko's suddenly inquisitive tone. One cheek inflated as she thought on her answer.

"Well, no, but I don't really run in many clan circles. I only know like, _two_ Hyuuga max, and that's only because I have one on my team, and he complains about the other one so often I feel like I know her. My graduating class didn't even _have_ any Yamanaka, and like, two Inuzuka." The girl then pouted. "Which is why I'm so confused. For some reason, it feels like I know you. For the life of me, however, I can't remember ever meeting you."

The girl then walked a pace around her.

"You're a ninja, right?"

Aiko nodded. She adjusted the headband on her upper arm.

"You probably graduated a year before me, then."

Aiko smirked. "Why couldn't I have graduated a year after you?"

"Simple," the girl matched her smirk. "I had a little buddy in my grade that got left back. I chose to look after him after a graduated."

"Oh!" Aiko's eyes widened. "I had a little buddy that got left behind too." Her smile faded. "I couldn't look after him, though. My dad told me to stay away." A fire then burned in her eyes. "But I'm a ninja now, almost Chunin. I don't have to care about what he says anymore."

The girl laughed. "That's the spirit! Oh, why are my manners?" She held out her hand. "The name is Tenten. No surname."

"Aiko," the Yamanaka replied. "Aiko Yamanaka. Glad to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise!" Tenten chirped. "Hey, now that we're friends, can you help me with something? I'm trying to find a friend. It's my little buddy, he's gone."

"Oh? I'm looking for my little buddy too! Maybe they went off to the same place? What's your little buddy's name?"

"You're gonna laugh. You've probably already heard of him? His name is Naruto Uzumaki."

XxX

" **I cannot find the use in this exercise** ," the Fox hummed. He, however, didn't stop Naruto. The boy was currently running. On his hands. On water. Without chakra. Just pure speed and the belief that he would be able to move fast enough for the surface tension to hold him without breaking, before the next hand came down.

For the move part he was right, and the spray that shot up from his hand-sprint was massive.

XxX

Aiko scowled. Whatever demeanor she had regarding this… girl… had vanished almost immediately, replaced with something cold and possessive.

"I'm sorry, repeat that?" Aiko's tone was almost venomous. She hadn't realized that Naruto had made a friend in the Academy. While it was disheartening to know that he got left back a second time, to know that he had made a friend was even more worrying.

This Tenten could be the kind to use and bully her friend. Aiko wouldn't stand for that.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Tenten giggled, as if the name wasn't anathema to speak out loud. As one, both civilian and ninja recoiled in horror. Some ninja looked amongst themselves to check that the little monster wasn't secretly among them somehow, while the civilians scanned the sky, half hoping that he was just clashing with Gai again.

When they noticed that he wasn't in their presence, the people simultaneously relaxed and grew irritated. They shot glares towards Tenten for daring to evoke such a calamitous name in their presence.

The bun haired girl was used to such vehemence. She reveled in it, actually. Aiko wasn't nearly so accustomed. She glared right back at them, and even forced some of them to look away. Satisfied with their submission, she turned her glare back on the bun-haired girl. She was remarkably less affected.

"Why are you looking for him?" she asked. "I was under the impression that he was some sort of _monster_. He can take care of himself."

Tenten, infuriatingly enough, giggled at her words. She seemed prone to doing that. "A monster? I'm not so sure about that. At his worst, he's a rogue firecracker. At his best he's a socially awkward teddy bear."

Aiko wasn't sure about the firecracker part, but it was nice to see _someone_ with an iota of sense. Maybe this Tenten wasn't so bad after all, if she knew that her Little Naruto was as soft as they came.

"I mean, yeah," Tenten drawled, "he did fight Gai-sensei to a draw above the village."

Aiko froze as the words came out of her mouth.

"And yeah, he did pick up the Hokage Monument a couple of times."

Well that was just ridiculous.

"But if you don't give him a reason to be mad, then he won't blow up on you. I mean, he had only ever destroyed the Industrial District. Every other district is fine."

"That's enough!" the Yamanaka screamed, finally full of the blasphemies that were lauded on her. She pouted, directing all her anger at the girl before her. "I'm tired of you people talking about Little Naruto like this!" She pointed imperiously at Aiko. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Tenten stared, her mouth hanging slightly open. She looked around, checking to see if this girl was serious, before turning back to the blond. She pointed to herself, as if to clarify if it was truly her that the girl was challenging. When Aiko nodded, Tenten had to take a moment.

"Oh, okay then." She then walked away, prompting Aiko to follow. "I know this sweet Training Ground. It's almost never used. We can 'duel' there."

XxX

Naruto touched down in Konoha, his feet tapping softly on the ground. He was capable of finesse, he just never had any use for it.

There was no need for intricate skill or subtlety when you could annihilate an entire landscape, after all.

" **Are you done sulking?** " the Fox asked. Naruto rolled his eyes. He stripped off his orange jacket before taking a look around.

He wasn't used to this particular area of Konoha. The trees around him were sparse, most barely out of their sapling stage. The ground was beaten down, making the dirt soft and level. He was in a clearing of some kind, with no trees for a good distance, perfect for training, or picnicking.

Ninjas led varied lives.

"Good spot to train," Naruto muttered. He patted down his black shirt, allowing the heat to evaporate from between his clothing. He dropped to the floor, ready to do his pushups, when the Fox spoke again.

" **No. You're not doing this anymore.** "

Naruto stopped. He tilted his head, and the Fox understood that he was confused.

" **You're not doing this anymore. We're talking**."

Naruto starting doing his pushups.

" **Naruto! Stop!** "

His pushups increased in pace. The Fox sighed.

" **Perhaps I should approach this a different way. Naruto, can you pl—** " The Fox paused. He tried to continue, but it sounded as if the words physically wounded him to say. He gagged on the words several times before he finally got them out.

"… **can you pl— ugh— can you please tell me what's wrong?** "

Naruto looked up. Mentally he was focusing on his inner demon, but physically it seemed as if he was looking off into the horizon. He thought on the Fox's words for several seconds, carefully keeping his thoughts silent, before coming to a conclusion. He opening his mouth to speak—

—and then was distracted by an explosion not too far away from where he was. He jumped up, immediately alarmed.

"What's that?"

" **An explosion. What were you about to say**?"

"We need to go check it out."

" **No. We don't. What were you going to say**?"

Naruto took off in the direction of the blast.

" **Fucking hell, boy**."

It only took one bound for Naruto to reach the sound of the commotion. What he found was a surprise.

"Stop dodging, you bitch!"

Tenten frowned. Her oversized Fuuma Shuriken dangled off the tip of her fingers from where she just managed to abort the throw. "Uh. No?" She then dodged out the way of the weapons thrown her way. They were her own, recycled by the lacerated Aiko Yamanaka. The blond tumbled after her throw, snatched a kunai off the ground, and then tossed it. When Tenten deflected it with a twirl of her shuriken, Aiko flipped through handseals.

"Mind Capture Technique!"

"Dance of Steel!"

And like that, the myriad of weapons that lie scattered throughout the field rose from the ground and homed in on the poor girl. Aiko was forced to abandon her technique in order to prevent herself from being impaled. Still, the weapons pierced her skin, cutting her outfit to pieces and shedding more blood.

Naruto looked to Tenten. She looked little more than confused and none worse for the wear.

"I thought you didn't know much about the Yamanaka," Aiko said around gasps of breath. Tenten nodded.

"I don't. I'm not going to let you complete whatever technique you were trying though. My team is _full_ of physical powerhouses like you wouldn't believe. I've learned not to stop them before they get started. Besides Naruto, I don't think anyone in the village can stand up to them in hand-to-hand."

"Stop saying that!" Aiko roared, and like that the battle continued. Aiko went through hand-seals once more, only to stop on a different one than the ones she had been using. Tenten twitched her fingers, and the weapons zoomed towards the blond girl once more, only for a dome of rock and ground to spring up around her. The weapons embedded themselves in the dome, but did not penetrate.

"Phooey," Tenten pouted. "That's no fun. Still, I'm no stranger to busting through defenses, either." She then pulled out several explosive tags. She wrapped them around the hilt of her kunai and tossed them. They sailed fast and true, and would have burrowed into the rock dome, before exploding, had a black and orange blur not jumped in front of them.

"Naruto?" Tenten gasped. "There you are!"

"Hi, Tenten," Naruto muttered. The explosive tags burned in his hands.

"Where have you been?" Tenten asked. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

Naruto shrugged. The tags continued to tick down.

"Are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

Truthfully, Naruto couldn't remember the last time he was seriously hurt. He shook his head.

"Oh, that's good. I'm glad."

Naruto nodded. He opened his mouth to respond…

… then exploded.

Tenten looked on, the light in her eyes never dimming. By the time the smoke cleared, there was a blast cone all around the boy's body, but no injuries on the boy beyond the tattered remains of his clothing.

Naruto gave a cursory glance at himself to make sure that nothing inappropriate was showing. Upon seeing that he was fine he turned his old friend.

"We need to talk."

XxX

Aiko was not having a good day. It _started off_ good, with her getting into the Chuunin Exams after years of being rejected by her own sensei. _You're not ready_ , he would say. _Give it another year_.

She was tired of waiting. She had to rise as soon as possible. She wasn't sure how long it would take Little Naruto to graduate. She needed to become Jonin before then if she wanted to be his sensei.

So she trained. She trained so hard that her brain hurt. She trained so hard that she would often blackout every night with her head buried in some old tome that was half as heavy as she was. She threw herself so hard into her own training that she barely paid any attention to the goings-on of the village, and those around her. She paid a cursory glance to the things around her, and worked so hard that she became known as a prodigy amongst her clan.

Aiko scoffed at such notions. She was just a really hard worker. So what that she appeared as cold and distant to her teammates. So what that she fell out of touch with everyone except Kiban. _So what_ that Little Naruto didn't hear from her. It would all be worth it when she came back to him and rescued him from the Academy.

One can guess how happy she was when she was entered into the Chuunin Exams. She calculated where each team would go based on their headbands— thank you Geographical Art of Shinobi War— and followed a team from the Hidden River to… well… a river. There she took over the mind of the leader, then led the three into a trap.

It was so easy that Aiko made it to the central tower in under a day. Barely a couple of hours.

High off of the exhilarating emotions, Aiko went to sleep almost as soon as she hit the tower. She didn't wake up until the next day, only to hear people talking about an earthquake. She shrugged at that. She was always a heavy sleeper. A quick change of clothing and trip to the stadium, and she was in the best mood she had ever been in! Soon she would be a Chuunin, and then she would rescue her little buddy!

And then said buddy showed up in the arena, looking as if everything was okay. Everything was _not_ okay. All of her plans were down the toilet if he had already graduated! Still, it wouldn't do for her to just ignore him. So she walked up to him confidently, hands on her hips. The precious boy's eyes widened when he realized what was going on, and Aiko's happiness at seeing him again almost overrode the unease she felt at not being his Jonin-sensei.

And then everyone started calling him a monster, and Aiko thought that maybe not everything was lost. Maybe they were still bullies to him, which meant that he still needed her.

The rest of the day was kind of a blackout for her. Things blurred together and angry words were said, but Aiko was pretty sure she defended her little orange marshmallow from harm.

And then he went and got himself lost. Oh phooey.

Looking for him was a hassle, but she eventually got a lead! And then that lead betrayed her. She called Naruto inhuman too. She would have to pay for that! Aiko was a whole year older, and a lot more dedicated. Surely taking this girl down to size would be easy?

No, it wasn't easy. She was a slippery thing, and hardly stayed in one place for more than a couple of seconds at most. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, Aiko could trap someone with her jutsu from much faster speeds. No, the problem lied with the various projectiles that she seemed to have a near limitless supply of.

 _Those_ things got in her head. And around it. Everywhere, really. And just like that, her most useful weapon was taken away. Aiko really only had one option left.

" _Retreat, retreat, retreat, retreat!_ "

And she did. She summoned a dome of earth around her and hoped that it would be enough. The explosions from outside told her that, no, it probably wouldn't be, but it would buy her enough time to come up with a plan.

So that's what she did. She crouched down low, buried her head between her knees and thought.

What? The position worked wonders.

So she couldn't use her Jutsu. That's fine. Weapons? No. She wasn't sure that the girl wasn't some kind of Metal-mancer. Hand-to-hand? No, she admitted that her partners were Taijutsu monsters. She would have ways around that.

So what to do? What to do?

Urgh! She couldn't think like this! Little Naruto was somewhere out there, lost and alone, and she was settling a grudge match with some little hussy that picked him up after she left!

"There's no time for this!" she hissed. "I'll just wing it!"

Note: Aiko Yamanaka never winged anything. Frankly, she was terrible at it.

Still, with a single handseal she tore down the rock walls, only to be greeted with an unusual sight.

"Twin Rising Dragons!" Tenten yelled. Two scrolls popped out of… somewhere… and landed firmly in her open palms. She swiped some blood across a seal on the parchment, before letting it unroll.

Written on both scrolls, over and over, were sealing arrays. Stored within those scrolls were an ungodly amount of weaponry.

Tenten's smile was vicious as she looked down at her opponent. "You won't be able to dodge this, Naruto."

Aiko's head whipped to the person opposite the bun-haired bitch. Sure enough, standing on the ground and looking up at the airborne Tenten was Naruto. He had discarded his orange jacket, leaving only a black shirt and orange pants. He wasn't moving, like Aiko expected him to against such a powerful shinobi. Instead, he just stood there, face impassive, as he stared down what was most likely an ultimate technique.

"Go, Twin Metal Dragon!" Tenten roared. Aiko's eyes almost fell out of her head. The scrolls started to dance around her, as if by magic, then started twirling around her in a double helix formation. The weapons fell out of the scrolls as one, then floated alongside their master. Tenten pointed, and the weapons _moved_.

They turned into dragons, complete with glowing yellow eyes.

"Metal Dragons," Tenten whispered, her voice almost a lilt. "Devour"

And then they did. They soared through the air like a missile, their maws open as if to feed their non-existent stomach. They covered the distance between their master and Naruto in less than a second, and Aiko could do nothing but gape as they slammed into him.

The Yamanaka almost collapsed from the impact. The earth cracked and broke.

Aiko turned to the girl. She was still suspended in the air from her jutsu, her face still contorted in a mask of absolute concentration.

"How… how _could you_? I thought he was your friend!"

Tenten glanced over. Her brow quirked as she took in the girl. "Aiko? I almost forgot about you. How are you doing?"

Aiko scoffed. How was she _doing_? "You… you killed Naruto!"

It was Tenten's turn to scoff. "Please, if this could kill him, he would be dead a long time ago. The little monster is _invincible_."

Aiko's mouth opened. _Again_ with the monster thing? How far did this bullying go? Finally fed up, the young Yamanka raised her hands. Her family's signature technique resonated throughout her entire body. She aligned her fingers to surround Tenten's flying, but stationary, form and concentrated.

She would eliminate all of Little Naruto's bullies, starting with this one.

The chakra whirled around her body, before focusing into her hands, and Aiko was entirely ready to fire it, when another quake travelled through the training ground. Tenten's mask descended on her face again as her outstretched arms suddenly started to shake.

Aiko, however, didn't know what was going on. "What's happening?"

Tenten only spared the Yamanaka a glance before turning back to the dust cloud that her dragons were currently ensnared in. "The beast has descended onto the battlefield.

"What the hell are you talking abo—"

And then another quake. The ground shifted as _something_ stomped on it from within the dust cloud. A wind finally blew through the clearing to reveal what was inside.

Aiko gasped when she saw that it was her Little Naruto. He wasn't dead! She made to run to him, but only got halfway. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what he was doing.

The metal dragons groaned as metal was subjected to stress it was never meant to take. The twin dragons continued their advance, or at least they desperately tried to, but both were held back by Naruto's outstretched hands. Tenten poured more of her chakra into the technique in an effort to overwhelm the blond boy, but it seemed to be to no avail. Naruto was not budging. He wasn't even straining.

"Tenten," Naruto started. His voice was dull and his blue eyes had lost the childlike sparkle that Aiko remembered always being in them. He pushed the twin dragons, both of which were bigger than him, back as he talked. Then, without warning, the boy shoved them off him. He chambered a punch, then released it.

Aiko wasn't prepared for the shockwave. The twin dragons roared in agony as they fell apart, not a single weapon surviving the attack. Tenten, as smart as she was, managed to dodge the attack, but be that as it may, it still parted the very clouds.

"We need to talk," Naruto mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah," Tenten chirped. Her smile was almost infectious. "I got some new tea. Let's talk about it over that."

Naruto just nodded. Tenten landed right next to him, somehow, and the two turned as one to the exit of the Training Grounds.

Aiko, however, could not follow. Her knees were jelly. She turned to look at the wave of destruction that was wrought by her precious little Naruto.

It extended far beyond the horizon.


	16. Chapter 16: Calamity Naruto

_**Look at me. Two in one week. Honestly a new record.**_

 _ **So, I've been reading your reviews (and yes, I do read your reviews) and I came across one that was interesting. One of you asked if you could pay me to update faster.**_

 _ **Sadly, no. You can't. I cannot accept payment for fanfiction, and I wouldn't even if I could. Fanfiction is a thing for fun, where I share a passion that I have with my fellow fans. This Intellectual Property has original creators, and they deserve any money that I would hypothetically get.**_

 _ **This being said, would you guys pay me, if you could? This isn't a question of "are you going to?" but rather "do I deserve it?" I have been on the fence about my writing ability, and while I would like to be compensated for it, I'm not sure about if I deserve to yet.**_

 _ **But anyway, enough of the serious stuff. Here is the next chapter. Warning, it is shorter than most, and for good reason. This is a set up for what could be the last chapter, with a nice little twist towards the end.**_

 _ **That's right. This chapter, or the next could be the penultimate chapter. I really don't have the luxury of keeping of this hobby right now, lol.**_

 _ **Like "That One Naruto Time Travel Thing," a last chapter for me is really just the closing of a book. The series could have more, or it could not, but I feel like "One Hit Ninja" is almost done for now. A Shippuden could be in the process, as I'm still having a lot of fun writing this. I just... can't do it right now without putting out mediocre work or making you wait months.**_

 _ **That's not fair. There are so many good fics on here.**_

 _ **So, again, here it is. Let me know how it is and how I can improve. I accept all criticisms and again I do read every single review, even if I don't reply to them all.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter 16:

Calamity Naruto

"So… what's up?" Tenten asked. Her spoon _tinked_ as it hit the edges of the ceramic cup that held her tea. Steam wafted out of the two cups, curling before dispensing into the air, adding Tea Country's signature blend to the vanilla that already clouded her room.

Naruto didn't bother noticing it at all. He looked around, noting that her room wasn't much different than the last time he was here. Her twin bed was still tucked away in a corner, and her desk sat opposite it in the other corner. A window was squarely in between the two, taking up the middle of the wall, and a circular rug took up most of the space on the wood floor.

All in all, nothing was new. Some clothes lay in a pile in the corner, but that was, again, nothing new. Tenten rented this apartment herself, and never really had anyone to keep her in check. She was just as much an orphan as he was, and as such it was a wonder that she kept it clean at all. He looked at his feet, kicked some shorts out of the way, and plopped on the carpet. Tenten did the same on her mostly made bed.

"That was Aiko," Naruto said. He stirred his tea. The tea leaves ripped at his indelicate touch, but Naruto wasn't a fan of tea anyway. "She was my best friend."

"I got that," Tenten said. She sipped at her tea, then recoiled at the heat. It was still boiling. "She got really angry whenever anyone so much as thought about you."

Naruto nodded. "She's… close. Very close."

"She's a little more than close, Naruto." Tenten chuckled. "It's like she's a mother hen!"

Naruto tilted his head. Tenten shook hers. Still, there was a fond smile on her face.

"It means that she's very doting, you little cupcake."

To this Naruto nodded. He sipped at his tea but didn't rear back from the heat. His brow scrunched at the taste, and he took one more sip to make sure that he didn't like it, before cradling the cup in his lap.

"I thought doting was good," he finally said. Tenten shook her head.

"It is, but not when they do it a lot. Then they become constricting. They keep you from doing things and that's not good."

"I don't think anyone could stop me from doing anything."

Tenten thought about that. The kid had picked up a mountain for almost no reason. She didn't doubt his claim in the slightest.

"Well," she started. "Maybe not physically, but if Aiko asked you not to eat at Ichiraku's anymore, would you?"

That the boy hesitated in answering was telling enough.

"See? It's good if she takes care of you and makes sure that you're okay, but it's not good if she's restrictive."

"You always tell me not to eat at Ichiraku's."

"Well, yes," Tenten said. She sipped at her tea again, and this time the scalding concoction was bearable. "But that's because it's unhealthy. Still, I don't actually stop you. I suggest things to you, and I hope that you listen. To _force_ you not to go would be to take away your freedom. That's not right."

Naruto frowned. He looked at his tea, but Tenten had the feeling that he was trying to avoid her eyes. "But Aiko cares about me."

Tenten's smile dulled a bit. "There is such a thing as caring too much."

"And how would you know?" the blond said. His voice, for once, held anger. "You don't care about me." His voice softened to the point that they almost evaporated with the steam. "No one does. Only Aiko."

Tenten's smile had finally melted away. When she spoke next, her words were brittle. "Do you really believe that, Naruto? Do you really think that no one cares about you?"

Naruto didn't respond. He sipped at his tea and flinched at the taste.

"What about Kiba and Sasuke? Do you think they would want to be around you if they didn't care about you?"

"They could be like Kiban. Someone told them to."

"And who would that be?"

"Kiban. He's Kiba's cousin."

"And Sasuke?"

Naruto didn't have answer for that one.

"And what about little Hinata? You have to know that she cares about you."

Again. Naruto didn't answer. He held the ceramic mug a little tighter, but not enough to crack it. Tenten took the time to slide onto the floor. She reached over and grabbed the boy's hand. He didn't pull away, so Tenten took that as a cue to continue.

"And what about me? You can't really think that I don't care about you?" She squeezed. "I wouldn't have invited you over if I didn't."

"No one has ever cared about me before," he whispered.

"But that doesn't mean that Aiko has to be the only one that does."

The room fell into silence once more. Tenten sipped at her tea, only to grimace when she noticed it was still too hot. She looked up to check on her little buddy, only to see him downing the last of his.

He still grimaced at the taste, but she was grateful that he finished it all.

He then stood and made his way to her window. He pried it open with little effort before perching himself on the sill. Tenten stood to stop him, but a simple look over the shoulder told her that she needn't have bothered.

"Just… leave Aiko alone for now."

"Fine. Just promise me that you'll look at everyone else. Really look at them and see how they look at you. See if they really care about you. Promise me that, and I promise you that I'll leave Aiko alone."

Naruto didn't respond. A cold breeze was the only answer Tenten got. Naruto had leapt from her window and was gone.

XxX

Sakura felt a shiver in her spine, but it was a feeling she had learned to ignore. Her psychic sense had grown to extend over almost the entire village by now. She would sense Naruto more often than she wouldn't.

The problem she was having now was that Naruto was running straight towards her, barreling through any and all barriers she managed to put up all the while. Sakura felt her own powers take a hold of her physical body, and before one could blink she had blasted off from her position on the roof of a building in the Market District. She was flying at speeds comparable to sound and would reach the outer wall of the village in seconds.

She was swatted out of the air by a force she had no hope of stopping. She cushioned her landing with a bed of psionic energy, before rolling to her feet and getting ready.

Across from her stood the calamity known as Naruto Uzumaki and, as usual, he looked as if he couldn't be more bored.

"I'm not dying, not today," Sakura said. She pulled out a kunai even though she knew that her struggles would be a useless floundering at best.

"What?" the natural disaster asked. "I'm not here to kill you."

"Like I'd fall for that." Was all Sakura said before her hand lanced outwards, fingers curled into a grip. She knew that she wasn't strong enough to actually affect Naruto, but she was strong enough to affect most other things.

Before Naruto could react, he was crushed between two buildings. The street went quiet as civilians gasped and ran away, but Sakura knew better. Slamming two buildings to crush him wasn't nearly enough.

Sure enough, the explosion that occurred as Naruto pushed the debris off of him was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"I'm not here to harm you," the blond hellion said. "I only want to talk."

"You _never_ want to talk," Sakura said, her eyes narrowed. "In fact, I think that those are the most words I have _ever_ heard you say, and I spent a whole year around you. Every single time I come within speaking range of you three things happen: Something breaks, something dies, and I get hurt." Sakura then shook her head. "Not this time. I'm going home, and I'm doing it in one piece."

Her psionic powers took hold of her once more, causing her cropped pink hair to float. She lifted herself into the air, but instead of only affecting herself, she took a hold of the entire area around her. Naruto crouched in order to swat her once more, only for the ground to crumble beneath him. With a mental heave, she commanded to earth to move, and it did. It fell away and swallowed the blond, before coming together.

Sakura knew that it wouldn't be enough.

The ground began to shake. An earthquake shook the village as Naruto battled the very earth itself.

Sakura felt uncomfortable that she didn't know which would win.

XxX

"Left."

Sasuke struck left. His fist lashed out, before coiling and pulling back into his body.

"Right."

His right fist snaked outwards. It flowed with the rest of his body like a calm stream of water.

"Left."

Same as before. Strike, flow, pull back.

"Right."

Flow. Move. Rest. Stream.

"Center."

Sasuke's two limbs struck outwards, and Hiashi had to move himself. The style was still incomplete, but it was coming along nicely. Sasuke had openings, but any that presented themselves were immediately washed away by the wave that was the boy's body. Still, he had to prove himself as a sparring partner. His hand struck forward, fingers out as was the custom of the Gentle Fist style, and almost hit the boy's exposed shoulder.

The Uchiha waded around it like a leaf in the wind. It missed him by a hair, and he used the momentum to strike back. The two then entered a very complicated dance that ended with the Uchiha on the ground, but that was fine. Sasuke knew that he was still growing.

"You're getting better," Hiashi said around slightly labored breathing. "A couple of weeks ago you couldn't even hit me."

Sasuke didn't respond. He gratefully accepted the glass of water from the Branch Family member and took several big gulps.

"Still, it's not good enough," he said after finishing off his glass. The Branch member took it as soon as it was empty. "Itachi was much better when he was half my age."

"Sasuke, you do realize that Itachi was a monster?" Hiashi asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"Monster or not, he needs to be stopped. No matter the cost."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "Even if that means making yourself into a monster like him?"

Sasuke didn't respond. He scowled, remembering the Snake's words, before looking away.

"No matter the cost."

Hiashi stared at him. The young boy was bright, but he was carrying far too much weight on his shoulders. He stepped forward in an attempt to console the boy when an earthquake shook the room.

It was, unfortunately, a familiar feeling, so he wasn't surprised when his daughter burst into the dojo.

"Sasuke!" she shouted. "It's Naruto!"

Hiashi scoffed. "An earthquake happens and you immediately assume that it's the boy."

Both children ignored the delusional adult.

"We should go see what's wrong," Hinata continued. Without waiting for a reply, she stormed into the room and snatched up the raven-haired boy. "Come on, let's go."

Sasuke struggled against the girl's grip. His scowl was almost able to be felt, it was so potent. "It's _Naruto_. I don't think there's anything that could really pose a threat to him."

"It's not about providing _backup_ ," Hinata responded with a roll of her eyes. "It's about getting in on the show. So are you coming or not?"

Sasuke took a second to think. When that second was over he was up and out the door, followed shortly behind by the Hyuuga heiress.

Hiashi watched them go. Then he turned from the dojo to retreat to the attached study.

He still refused to believe it was Naruto. Surely they were just on a fault line.

XxX

Sakura panted. Sweat pooled on her brow, and her pink hair was matted to her head. Some locks hung limply, only partially afloat on her now fading psionic powers. Stone, houses, carts and the actual earth was hurled at her opponent, only for him to more or less shrug them off. She raised her hand, and with it a chunk of earth, and tossed it at the Orange Blondie, only for him to backhand it away.

The Market District was little more than rubble. Such was the clash between two monsters. If you asked Sakura, however, there was only one true monster, and he couldn't tell the difference between sarcasm and genuine praise.

"So… talking?" Sakura whimpered. The boy had stopped mere feet from her and was looking at her with a curious expression.

"Yeah," Naruto responded. "I thought I made that clear."

Sakura nodded. She prepared herself for anything that could come from the boy's mouth. "Alright. What do you want to talk about?"

"Are we friends?"

She was not prepared for that.

"Are we… what? Naruto, what is this about?"

And then she saw something that she never thought she would ever see again. Naruto… hesitated. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. He scratched his chin, then rubbed his neck, then paced back and forth. Then he picked up some debris, the remains of a roof, and brought it over. He placed it before her and sat down. Sakura decided to do the same.

When in Kiri, you do as the Kiri do. Sakura was already waist deep in this insanity no matter how much she wanted to escape it. She might as well embrace it.

It took a while for the blond kid to speak, but when he finally did it was with— and Sakura could not believe this— emotion.

"Are we… are we friends?"

Sakura wracked her brain for the correct answer. Truthfully, Sakura couldn't imagine them as being anything more than acquaintances at best but answering "no" to the walking midget of doom seemed like a bad idea. Answering "yes," however, seemed like an equally disastrous answer. So, for once in Sakura's intellectually gifted life, she was stumped.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked. He had looked away from his fidgeting hands and towards her. She looked back, and for a second emerald eyes met sapphire ones.

And she faltered, for such innocence should not belong to someone who could destroy countries if he so wished.

"Yes, Naruto. We're friends," she said, and she could already feel herself regretting her answer. Still, it was hard to say no to such adorable eyes, and Sakura was nothing if not weak to cute things.

Naruto, for all of his fearsome attributes, was the very definition of cute.

"But what is this about?" Sakura had to know. Naruto never cared about such things before. In fact, he never seemed to care about anyone at all, in any capacity.

"I've been speaking to Aiko, and—"

"Aiko Yamanaka? That scary girl?" Sakura asked. Judging from Naruto's reaction, that wasn't the right words to use. The psi wisely shut up.

"I've been speaking to Aiko, and I realized that she cares for me. I always knew that, but I want to know if other people care for me too. I'm pretty sure no one does, but Tenten wanted me to ask and—"

"What? Of course people care about you. What kind of question is that?" Sakura said with a scoff. "Sasuke, Kiba and Ino practically adore you, and Hinata hangs off your every word, however scarce they are. I've never seen the Hokage let anyone besides you off for destroying entire sections of the village, and hell, _Kakashi-sensei_ seems fond of you. He isn't even fond of _me_ and I'm his damn student."

Naruto nodded. He opened his mouth to speak when a tiny white missile slammed into him. It didn't hurt, but Naruto pretended it did. Akamaru appreciated the gesture. Sakura took one look at the dog and grimaced. Where Akamaru was…

"Naruto!" Kiba roared. He thundered over debris and wrecked earth as if it weren't there. "What are you doing destroying the village again? Didn't you promise that you wouldn't?"

Naruto stared at the dog boy. As usual, he ignored him in pursuit of his own goals. "Kiba. Are we friends?"

"Yes," Kiba responded. The answer was immediate and so full of confidence that Sakura wasn't sure whether Kiba even considered the question. "Why the hell did you destroy the Market District, dude? My family owns a shop here!"

"I didn't destroy your shop," Naruto said. He pointed over and, sure enough, Inuzuka Pet Supplies and the area immediately around it was fine. The buildings on either side were wrecked, but that store miraculously stood. Sakura wasn't sure how he managed it.

"That's not the point! Who would even come here to shop? The ground is a mess!"

Naruto looked to Sakura. She looked away. So the topographical damage was her fault this time. She was fighting an opponent that more than deserved the extreme prejudice.

"Grr~" the dog boy growled. "You busted it, you gotta clean it up. And don't think I haven't noticed you, psi-girl. I smell you all over the place. You gotta help too!"

Sakura wanted to complain. She wanted to tell the dog boy off before teleporting away, but a firm hand grasped her shoulder. She turned, slowly, to find a disturbingly calm Ino Yamanaka standing there.

"Naruto was nice enough to spare the dog breath's store. But you? You swung my family's flower shop into the air. Who's gonna pay for that, Sakura?" Ino's eyes were closed, but they were staring into Sakura's soul. "Cause it ain't gonna be me."

Sakura was about to panic, but Naruto, as true to character as ever, ignored the mood. He called out to Ino and didn't flinch under her glare.

"Hey, Ino, are we friends?" he asked. Ino's smile was venomous.

"Oh, why, yes. We are. And we're going to be even _closer_ friends over the time it'll take you and pinky here to help clean up the _entire_ Market District." Ino then snapped her fingers. "Now, come on. You two have a _lot_ of work to do."

Naruto shrugged. If he really wanted to, such menial labor could be done within the afternoon. Sakura, however wailed. She wailed until she was shushed by the irate children, then wailed more mentally.

Seeing as she was a psychic, everyone still heard her complaining.

XxX

Aiko was in a weird sort of rut. She saw something weird yesterday, and no matter hard she tried, she couldn't seem to wrap her head around it. Still, her highly logical mind was there, and she had no choice but to accept it.

Her Little Naruto was a whole lot stronger than she thought. He was a whole lot stronger than anyone could have thought. He was so strong that ridiculous rumors —most of which might be true— were circulating about him.

Little Naruto was a powerhouse, and he might not be so little anymore. She had looked away for just a little while, and he had grown up without her permission.

"He walked away from me, and he didn't even say bye…" she muttered, her dejected voice barely registering to even her own ears. "He never did that before."

He was changing, or rather, he had already changed. He had grown up without her, and all because she had left him behind. She knew that she shouldn't have listened to Kiban. Both he and her father were traitors!

Such thoughts plagued her mind as she paced once more through the thoroughfare of Konoha. Civilians were stumbling from the onset earthquake, but Aiko's mind was effectively elsewhere. She didn't come back to reality until she bumped headlong into someone. He was far taller than her, almost twice her height, and had this weird black cloak on. Red clouds dotted the outside, and a head of raven hair topped off his head.

He turned to her, and Aiko got her first look at what was going on. Two of the children who were with Little Naruto— no, he was just Naruto now— were in front of the black cloaked man, but they were in two different positions. The girl, a Hyuuga if Aiko was right, was collapsed on the ground. Her eyes were unfocused and her breathing was labored, but she was still alive. Being held in the air by the cloaked man was the last Uchiha. His eyes were red as they glared at the man choking him.

Aiko paled. Only one person was known to evoke such hatred from Sasuke.

She turned her attention to the man, and was at first stricken by his beauty. He was a shockingly handsome man if you ignored the hauntingly red eyes. His features were chiseled and pointed, and his voice was smooth.

It was really too bad that the only word that Aiko heard from his mouth was _Tsukiyomi_.


	17. Chapter 17: Rise of the One Hit Ninja

_**Hey y'all. This is going to be a week or two of "finals." I'm going to be ending this story with the next chapter. "A Wayward Blond" is being ended sometime soon too. "Samus and Pit: Lost Memories" will be getting the closure it deserves, and even "Naruto: Hero in Disguise," which was my very first and extremely terrible first fanfiction will be ended as well.**_

 _ **Reason being? I hate "indefinite hiatuses" and some of those have been on a bench for a while. I never even intended to finish Hero in Disguise after all the glaring potholes, Mary Sue's and self-insert.**_

 _ **Why am I bringing this up, you ask? Because there... well...**_

 _ **I might be taking a break from writing fanfiction. This may be a week thing, a month thing, or a year thing, but I'm going to be stopping. Class is starting again, and I'm barely holding on financially. If I find a job, it's going to be low-end and draining me mentally. My work will suffer because of that, and none of you deserve half-assed quality work. I asked if my quality was good enough to be paid for, and some nice people said yes. I never want to give you anything less than premium.**_

 _ **Which is why I'm stopping. I'll focus on me, and I'll focus on getting better in writing. I'll focus on moving out of my mom's house and away from the toxic influence that is surrounding it. I'll focus on being a better person for you all.**_

 _ **And who knows? I might even find that writing job that I'll fall in love with, and then I can come back to you guys with my head held high.**_

 _ **This is my forward notice. You'll get one more chapter, and then those few that have subscribed to my author account will get a flood of updates on stories that have been almost shelved. You will all get some sort of closure, and then you'll have me out of your hair for a bit.**_

 _ **I do, however, have a blog that has my original works on it. I can post a link to that if you want. Nothing humorous right now, but little things I tend to write about. That will update periodically.**_

 _ **But anyway, here's the chapter. As usual, let me know how I'm doing. Keep reading, keep writing, and enjoy this wonderful community.**_

 _ **I couldn't be half the writer I am today without all of you, and I thank and love you all.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter 17:

Rise of The One Hit Ninja

Itachi frowned as he stared at his little brother. The boy was snarling as he ineffectually grasped at Itachi's face. He tried to pull off some moves, even going as far as swiping at his arm, but nothing Sasuke did held up against his older brother's superior arm length.

Honestly, it was rather sad, but at least the boy had unlocked his Sharingan. That almost made Itachi not disappointed.

"I'm going to rip off your head and defecate down your throat stump!" Sasuke roared, which was impressive as Itachi was doing his level best to choke the boy. How he had so much air to continuously yell obscenities was beyond the ex-ANBU member. "And when I'm done, I'm going to rip out your eyes and shove them up your ass, just so you could get an understanding of how much of your bullshit I've had to deal with!"

Kisame, the feared "Monster of the Hidden Waves," could only stare in mute wonder. Below him was a bubblegum-haired ninja who even now was pushing against his mind, but he could honestly care less about the bug underneath his foot. "Wow, that is… a lot… of rage."

When Itachi spoke, it was around the spittle and curses that Sasuke was still somehow spurting out. "He is a true Uchiha, despite his deficiencies."

Kisame's brow rose. "You mean to say that your clan encouraged this?"

"We foster such resentment."

Kisame didn't know how to answer that. He turned back to the girl under his heel to see her glaring up at him. If the man hadn't stared down much bigger, deadlier threats, he would have been intimidated by the venom in those green eyes.

"I'm gonna make your brains bleed out through your ears," she muttered. Lithe fingers dug into the dirt, leaving a score of lines behind. "And when your head is finally rid of those last two cells, I'll suspend your body above our gate as a reminder to those who would _dare_ to betray the Hidden Leaf."

Kisame's eye drifted from the girl back to his nearly mute partner. "Is… is everyone in your village like this?"

Itachi shrugged. "Last time I was here, only _I_ was like this. Glad to see the trend caught on."

A contingent of ninjas landed in the middle of the street, likely in response to the commotion from the civilians. They took one look at the two missing ninja and snarled.

"We're gonna skin you alive and make you into throw rugs," the lead ninja roared.

Kisame stared, then sighed.

"I should've known that _your_ village would be this way."

XxX

The world was red. It was red, and black, and sometimes white. The sky was red, the moon was red, and though the ground was as black as tar…

Her blood had flowed enough to dye it red.

"Gah!" Aiko screamed. More blood dripped from her open mouth. The blade in her stomach retracted at the sound of her pain, and the wound sealed instantly with its absence. Still, the pain of the stab hadn't faded. It lingered and mixed with the hundreds of other times that the man before her had stabbed her. Judging by his chambered arm, he wasn't done with the torture either.

"Argh!" Aiko screamed as the blade pierced her lung. Somewhere deep inside, her logical brain knew that it was all an illusion. Her wounds healed too quickly. The world was out of color. Time moved in weird ways. The pain, however, felt far too real. Her nerves _burned_ , like a wildfire through a forest, and the acrid taste of bile was always just at the back of her mouth. Searing hot tears threatened to overflow from her eyes, and Aiko couldn't help but wonder just how extravagant this genjutsu was.

"You… you pansy…" Aiko choked out. Her throat felt sore, like she swallowed sandpaper. The pain she was feeling was unbelievable, but it was something that she could tolerate. The Yamanaka were trained to withstand any amount of mental fatigue.

The Uchiha, Itachi she realized, didn't respond. He looked at her, his body in shades of red and white, and shrugged. He turned away, and his footsteps were silent as he marched away into the distance.

For a second Aiko thought that her torture was over.

Then the world lurched. Red and black and white blurred together in a chaotic whirlwind. Darkness bled away to reveal more vivid colors, and suddenly the first thing she saw was something incredibly noticeable.

"The Hokage Monument?" she muttered. Blue eyes darted back and forth, and familiar buildings came to the forefront. A bread shop, a ramen shop, Yakiniku Q. She was in Konoha's main thoroughfare. "What?"

She struggled, but she was still bound to a red and black cross. The civilians walked all around her, sparing her not even a glance. She sighed. So she was still in a genjutsu. She struggled once more against the binding, not minding at all the isolation in a crowded area, when a flash of orange stopped her.

No.

Suddenly scores of people fell by the dozens. Their eyes rolled to the back of their heads as claw marks rent their bodies asunder. Some people were felled as buildings collapsed on them, while still others simply melted where they stood. Their voices melted together in a cacophony of terror, and still Aiko did not fold.

No, she stood strong until the orange appeared in her vision again. It glided through the masses like oil through water, before standing mere meters away from her. He looked around at the people suffering, then a wicked smile slowly crept across his face.

Little Naruto leered at her as the village crashed around him. His blue eyes had turned red, and he held that monstrous man's sword in his hands. Before Aiko could say anything he jabbed it into her abdomen.

And this time Aiko didn't feel the stab in her skin. She felt it in her soul.

Xxx

Kisame shifted backwards, letting the blades swipe at the air where he once was. With less effort than probably should be necessary, he hefted his Samehada into the air and brought it down. The resulting explosion blasted away every enemy combatant in front of him.

"You Leaf ninja are fun!" the blue-skinned man roared. His smile was wide as he turned. Samehada opened its mouth and swallowed the fireball that was aimed at his back. It licked its lips as it savored the taste of the chakra. "Bring on more!"

Itachi, meanwhile, was having less fun. His Sharingan flickered back and forth as he kept track of the multiple ninjas jumping on him. He redirected several punches, throwing ninjas into other ninjas, then snatched kunai out of the air. In one fluid motion he tossed the knives into the throats of other enemy combatants, then used other ones to slash at ninja that came too close.

This deadly dance continued for a few seconds more before the Uchiha slayer became upset. A sequence of hand signs both began and ended in an instant, and a huge fireball barreled down the street.

Most Leaf ninja were engulfed by the flame. Kisame simply used his sword to eat the flames that came near him.

"Your village is a riot, Itachi!" Kisame roared. A surviving Leaf ninja attempted to jump the distracted man. He was backhanded through a wall. The shark man hadn't even turned to acknowledge him. "If I knew it was this fun, I would have come so much earlier!"

Itachi didn't respond. Shuriken flipped into his hands and were released shortly after. The Shadow Clone Technique turned his ten or so shuriken into a wall of death that either waylaid the fresh wave of Leaf ninja or incapacitated them.

"We should leave," the Uchiha scion finally said. His voice was soft, but Kisame heard it anyway. "Before the real monsters arrive."

Kisame laughed. He swung Samehada onto his shoulder and swept his hand out over the destroyed thoroughfare. " _Real_ monsters? What manner of man could possibly handle us two?"

It was at that moment that Kakashi and Gai dropped into the clearing. Gai took one look at Kisame and shifted into the Fifth Gate. The ground cracked and the air rippled as power incarnate erupted from the Green Beast.

"What?" was all Kisame was able to get out before he was slammed with upwards of 200 pounds of pure muscle. Samehada was brought up and it blocked the kick, but the resulting momentum carried the two through several buildings and out of sight.

Itachi looked at them go, then turned back to the other ninja staring him down. In the time that he looked away Kakashi had flipped his headband up. The red of the man's stolen Sharingan looked back at him.

"Your genjutsu won't work on me, Itachi," the man spat, his voice laced with venom. "I will bring you to justice."

Itachi almost chuckled at the man's confidence. "You have an incomplete set, and an immature one at that." His own eyes then morphed into the Mangekyo. The three tomoe that surrounded his pupil turned into a star. The strain was immediate, however, and his vision turned blurry. The elder Uchiha let his power fade before looking back at the man. He shouldn't have used Tsukiyomi on that girl. "Still, I will entertain you, for a bit."

Kakashi snarled at the younger man's words. Nothing else needed to be said, it seemed. He tensed, then the two blurred into motion.

XxX

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the leader of the Hidden Leaf Village and _The Professor_ , felt the need to massage his head. A headache of epic proportions was assaulting him from quite literally every side of his skull, and he felt that there was nothing he could do to assuage it.

First the Chunin Exams were put on hold and, hoo boy, was that a bad thing. Not only was it an embarrassment on a national scale, but it was an annoyance that he really wasn't willing to handle quite yet.

Then two S-ranked ninjas decided to invade his village. True, one of them was probably on his side. Still, the rest of his ninja didn't know that, which meant that they would all probably be incapacitated.

The amount of headaches that he would be getting from the hospital was already making him dizzy.

A few casualties wouldn't even be a problem if the two morons would take out a couple of his subordinates and then leave, but they didn't. They were _staying_ , and his stupid subordinates were still throwing themselves at them as if it would fix the problem.

The way that things were going, he would have to go deal with this himself.

He didn't want to. His chair was so comfy!

Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed at his temple. It wasn't a good day. He didn't like it. But such was the life of a Hokage.

He rose from his – disgustingly comfortable – chair and roamed over to his window. Explosions and wonton destruction on an epic scale was erupting all over the town as his ninja tried to deal with a threat that would go away given the ability to.

The amount of property damage was staggering. He knew that it was probably selfish to think solely of the numbers that would be involved with this incident, but he couldn't help it. No one would be fatally hurt by this phenomenon, so the life toll wasn't on his mind. So all that left was the paperwork.

And the paperwork would be _massive_.

The headache increased tenfold when he thought of the amount of time he would be trapped behind a desk resolving the bureaucratic side of things. Somehow, someway, he felt like this was Itachi's way of getting payback for not stopping the Uchiha massacre.

He felt like he was right.

XxX

Itachi sighed as Kakashi gasped at his feet. Cuts festooned the man's jacket and clothing, and blood flowed freely from the wounds. Still, he was conscious, and even now he was trying to swipe at the ex-ANBU with what little energy he had left.

The Uchiha would feel proud of the man's tenacity had he not been the villain. He had a role to play, and never was he the one to shirk his duty. With this in mind, the man raised his foot and brought it down harshly on the man's head. The silver-haired Jonin grunted from the pain, before finally collapsing.

"Pathetic," Itachi said, his voice naught but a whisper. Still, with the amount of authority behind the voice, everyone in the now abandoned street heard him. "I expected more of ninja from my hometown." Itachi's blood red eyes then roamed to his little brother. Sasuke was posted against a wall, his teeth grit and eyes blurry, but alive. "I expected more of you, little brother."

"Damn you!" Sasuke yelled. He was the exact opposite of his brother in every way. Where Itachi stood tall and proud, Sasuke leaned heavily on a wall. Where Itachi radiated power and confidence, Sasuke struggled like a fallen lamb. Still, despite their differences, the younger Uchiha glared with all the venom of an apex predator as he stared down his older brother. He held no fear as he locked eyes with one of the most feared nuke-ninja in the world. "I _will_ kill you! I will take you down, no matter what it takes!"

Itachi smiled, though it was hidden under the massive hem of his cloak. He had the urge to pike the boy like he used to, but he had to quash it. Instead, the young man turned away. "Your hatred is still too weak. You must have eyes like mine before—"

"No," Sasuke muttered. He pushed off the wall and took a couple of steps toward the rogue. He faltered, nearly falling to the ground, before catching himself. "I will _not_ take the same path to power that you did. I will _not_ follow in your footsteps!" The strength in his left leg faltered, and he almost collapsed to the ground. He braced himself with his hand before he fell completely, and slowly struggled back to standing. "If I am to beat you, it will be through my own merit. If I am to beat you, it will be because of my _own_ actions." He pounded his chest. His voice lowered, as did his gaze. "Even if… even if I have to become a monster…"

He choked on his last words, and his legs failed him once more. He couldn't catch himself this time, and he mentally braced himself as he pitched forward. Before he hit the ground, however, a pair of hands hooked under his arms. Sasuke felt himself being raised, not just by the physical might of the person, but by an otherworldly force.

"No," a familiar voice said. It was brash and slightly scratchy. "No monsters here, only heroes!"

"Yeah," another voice choked out. It came from behind, but it was no less strong for it. "We will never succumb to your evil. We will _never_ be like you!"

Sasuke turned to the person supporting him, and even through glazed eyes he could make out the fanged smile of Kiba Inuzuka. It was a forced thing, but it bolstered his confidence nonetheless. Akamaru, Kiba's furry little partner, barked his support.

Sasuke didn't even need to turn around to feel the whisper of a voice in his mind. Sakura was back up, and she was ready to go.

"We might not be Naruto," Kiba started, his words coming out akin to a growl, but we're still plenty strong ourselves! We won't be beaten by the likes of you, S-ranked ninja or not!" Kiba then turned his intense gaze back to Sasuke. "And you won't either, will you? What sense does it make to beat him if you just become another monster?"

Sasuke looked away, not wanting to show the shame in his eyes. Still, the question brought a smile to his face. For once, the dog-breath was right. It didn't make any sense to give up now. Different path or not, he would still become a monster like the man before him.

Mustering what little strength he had, he pushed himself off of his friend. Energy he did not have rushed through him, and he stood confidently once more.

"Yeah," he said around ragged breaths. He shifted into the Flowing Water, Crushing Rock stance and smirked. "Let's see if we can't topple a monster."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Kiba roared. He collapsed on all fours, with Akamaru doing the same on top of his head. "We're going monster hunting, boy!"

Akamaru barked, the sound coming out as an excited yip.

"I failed against the last monster," Sakura said. Her voice was strong with her conviction. It rose into a shout as she spoke. "I won't fail against this one. Snakes, sharks, sand demons… I don't care! Bring them all and more! I will crush them with my power!"

And then, just like that, an impressive power blared to life behind them. Without looking at her, Sasuke could practically _taste_ the psionic power emanating from his pink-haired teammate. She was likely floating via the use of her powers, arms splayed and glowing green eyes trained on Itachi.

The man, for all the power displayed before him, simply looked on. His red eyes were little more than bored as he watched the children squabble.

"Are you quite done?" he asked. His eyes focused on Sasuke. "Friends will only hold you back."

"Shut up," Sakura growled. She floated forward and raised her hand. "We don't fraternize with the enemy."

Sasuke could _feel_ the psionic energy leap from her hand. It crashed into Itachi like a freight train, actually pushing him back a couple of feet.

Sakura grunted. "He's heavy."

"Doesn't matter," Kiba growled. "Just keep him there." He then jumped forward. He started to spin halfway through his dash to the rogue ninja, before turning into a deadly twister. Itachi looked to move, but a blue film of energy enclosed around him, trapping him where he was.

"Not so fast," Sakura said amidst a grin. Her hand was outstretched, closing around the Uchiha.

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba roared, before barreling into the trapped Itachi. A cloud of dust erupted from the impact, and for a second both Sakura and Sasuke had to shield their eyes. The eruption soon ended, however, and the two pre-teens struggled to see through the persisting smoke cloud.

"Is… is he down?" Sakura asked. "I can't sense his mind."

"No," Sasuke grunted. "He wouldn't go down from just that." He then bent his knees, before jumping into the cloud. Sakura reached for him, but it was no use. He was swallowed by the cloud before she could do anything.

Sakura bit her lip. All she could now was wait. She tried to use her psionic powers to push away the dust, but nothing happened. So she waited.

Luckily, not for long.

"Graagh!" someone screamed from the dust. The smoke finally started to clear when it did, and Sakura was overjoyed when it did.

Kiba was laid out on the side, his body twitching with Akamaru licking at his face to wake him. He was unconscious, but not injured, so that was good. Sasuke, however, was standing proudly, his kunai embedded into Itachi's stomach.

"How do you like that, you bastard?" Sasuke snarled. A vindictive smile danced on his face as he spoke. "Who's weak now?"

Itachi didn't say anything. Instead, he raised his hand and reached for the younger man. His arm was briefly encased in a blue aura, but like Orochimaru before him, he broke his restraints.

Sakura grunted at the casual display of power.

"You are stronger than I thought," Itachi spoke, but like usual his voice barely registered above a whisper. "But not strong enough. Though… I suppose this was a good warm-up."

"Warm…up?" Sasuke parroted. A bad feeling started to worm its way into his stomach. Something was wrong. He twisted the kunai, lurching it with all his strength. Just like before, the man hadn't even reacted.

And then he burst into crows.

"Fucking…" Sasuke murmured. "Not this!"

Sakura made her way over. She was on guard. They lost sight of an extremely strong combatant, and that wasn't good. "This? What is this?"

"A crow clone. It's a mixture of genjutsu and the cloning technique."

"Of course he would," Sakura murmured. "A failsafe defensive maneuver; he can switch with a crow clone whenever he needs in order to escape danger… brilliant…"

"Can you sense him?"

Sakura shook his head. "I couldn't sense him even when he was right in front of me. He's doing something to mask both his chakra and his thoughts."

"Tch," Sasuke sucked his teeth. "Then we stay on guard. He can't be that far."

Sakura nodded. The two shared a look before sprinting off.

Kiba twitched where he was on the side of the road.

XxX

"What the hell even _are_ you?" Kisame asked. He swung his sword— a legendary blade made of sharp scales, rather than a single edge— and tried to crush the green freak. Unfortunately, said freak was faster. He moved out of the way.

That wasn't what was frustrating Kisame, however. The man dodged the attack cleanly, seemed to be moving before the swing even started, but made a different decision once he was in the clear. He scrunched his massive eyebrows, rattled a single thought around an empty head, then _moved back in the way of the blade_.

"I am _Might Gai_ —" the man roared.

"I know," Kisame sighed. "You've announced yourself at least fifteen times already."

"— and I am the _Mighty Green Beast of Konoha_!"

Kisame took one look at the garishly green spandex suit and winced. "You don't say."

"And in order to live up to young Naruto's expectations, I must be able to take any and all attacks, no matter where they come from. _En garde!_ "

"In what?" was all Kisame could get out before the green freak raised both of his heavily bandaged hands and _caught his Samehada_. "Okay, what?"

"Months of near constant pounding from young Naruto has made me extremely resilient!" Gai roared. Kisame stared at the man, wide eyed.

"Dude, please rephrase that sentence."

"I SEE NO NEED!" Gai screamed, and boy, was that a scream. Kisame could already feel the headache forming from the man's _still_ increasing volume. "I AM PROUD OF THE MANY BEATINGS THAT YOUNG NARUTO HAS GIVEN ME!"

"How… does anyone in this village… function… with you around?" Kisame muttered through grit teeth.

A nearby ninja, recently fallen, groaned his agreement.

"WITH MY NEW TRAINING ON MY SIDE, I REFUSE TO LOSE TO THE LIKES OF UNYOUTHFUL YOU! GATE OF JOY, OPEN!"

And then any delusions that Kisame had about the man's power were literally blown away as Gai started to emanate pure power from his body. His skin turned even redder, and a green aura surrounded him.

"I AM MIGHT GAI, AND I WILL NOT LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"

Kisame barely had enough time to react before he was slammed into by the freak. What made it worse was that he was on fire now. Samehada whined as blow after blow rained on her, but Kisame could do little else under the impressive speed.

"HAHA, MOST YOUTHFUL ONE! HOW DO YOU LIKE BEING POUNDED?"

"Okay, that's enough," Kisame groaned. He went through one-handed handseals, before spitting out enough water to flood a river. The surprise attack pushed Gai back, but it wasn't enough to incapacitate him. He flipped in the air, righted himself, and prepared for another rush.

And then stopped when he saw the shark-like sword fuse with the blue-skinned man. Within seconds Kisame was a shark-man, and for once _Gai_ was the one left speechless.

"You're some kind of freak, aren't you?" he asked.

Kisame could only roar in response.

XxX

The Third Hokage grunted as he moved through the crowd. There were quite a lot of explosions where he was heading, but none were loader than Gai's screams, so he was at least certain that someone competent was handling the situation. The old man removed his hat, before handing it over to an ANBU that shadowed him. The man took it reverently, before helping the old man disrobe.

Underneath his robes of office was an all-black getup that was lightly studded with plating. The Third Hokage was going to war.

"You look weird out of your normal clothing, gramps."

The Third Hokage was going back to his chair. He turned, faster than the eye could track, to see a tiny blonde walk past him. A bun haired girl bowed and apologized profusely as she followed the walking nuke to the point of fighting.

"Are you going to handle that, Naruto?"

The blond mute stopped, turned, and eyed the Hokage.

"Are you going to put back on your clothes if I do?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Deal."

And the two strongest ninja in the village turned in opposite directions and went their separate ways.

"I wonder if I should alert Itachi…" the old man mused. "Nah, he'll be fine."

XxX

Gai and Kisame were panting as they stared each other down. The two could barely stand as they attempted to catch their breath, but both were far too stubborn to give up.

"I truly never expected such youth from one like you," Gai muttered. "But here is where it all ends. I have one last trick up my sleeve. I was hoping to save this for Young Naruto, but it appears that I have no choice. GATE OF DEATH: OPEN!"

And then Kisame knew fear. The green aura slowly turned red as power the likes he had never felt before gushed out of the man before him. His transformation slowly canceled as Samehada ejected itself from his body.

"You… you are a monster…" Kisame muttered. His legs wobbled, and then failed him. The Monster of the Hidden Waves collapsed as he took in the incarnation of strength that was now bearing down on him.

"And you, whoever you are, were a good fight. I will put my life on the line for your defeat, but know that you have beaten me as wel—"

"Wait, do you not know my name?"

Gai stood there, steam emanating from his body, in silence. A few seconds passed before he spoke again. "Know that you have beaten me as we—"

"How do you not know my name? This is literally the only sword like this in existence. I am the only person in the world with blue skin!"

Gai opened his mouth but didn't get any words out before Kisame started talking again.

"There are only about twenty S-ranked shinobi in existence, both dead and alive. How do you _not_ know my name?"

Gai didn't have an answer to that. Instead he shifted into a stance and prepared his final attack. Kisame's anger was momentarily forgotten as the feeling of death pervaded his very being.

"FINAL ATTACK! NIGHT GU—ack!"

The red aura dissipated as the Green Beast was hammered into the ground. The Gate of Death was canceled before it could even begin to burn out Gai's life force, and Gai could only mumble as he was quite literally buried face first into the dirt.

Tenten stared, eyes wide, as she watched her teacher be defeated by a bop on his head.

Naruto looked bored. He stared at his fist, then at the man, and sighed.

"Well, that was interesting," he muttered. He turned his gaze on the wide-eyed, blue-skinned man. "Who are you? Are you the one causing all this noise? It's not nice to disturb the community."

Multiple fallen, but not dead, ninjas almost felt the need to get up and stare at the blond for the blatant hypocrisy, but they hadn't the heart or the energy to do so.

Kisame, however, did. He reared up from his place on the ground and snarled. "Oh no, to be overlooked by a monster like that is one thing, but I won't be ignored by a pipsqueak like you! Jinchuuruki or not, you _will_ know my name as Kisa—gurk!"

Whatever the man was going to say was interrupted as Naruto quite literally passed through him. The shark man choked on his own blood, before looking down.

His entire midsection was gone, and his limbs were flying to places he could not keep track of. As his head fell to the ground, only one thought ran through his mind.

" _Was… was that a punch?_ "

And so ended the legacy of the strongest Mist swordsman. Naruto sighed.

"I hate miscreants, if these people just got a job, we wouldn't have to deal with them all the time."

Tenten nodded absently. She picked up Samehada, who was still too shocked to even think about rejecting her and followed her friend.

XxX

Sakura wasn't sure how to handle this situation. They had eventually found Itachi, but she wasn't so sure how good of an idea that was. He was sitting on a roof just outside the Uchiha compound, and silently staring at the now abandoned buildings.

When the two adolescent ninja touched down on the roof opposite him, the man didn't even blink. Honestly, that should have been Sakura's first red flag.

The black flames and endless shuriken should have been the second.

But that was only the tip of the iceburg. Psionic shields and fancy martial arts carried the two younger ninja through the brunt of the attacks, but whatever they _thought_ they were ready to do, they weren't. Itachi was a monster, through and through, and predicted every move they made. Even when they just resolved themselves to run, the man had already placed traps to trip them up.

Eventually they made it back to where they started: Konoha's main thoroughfare. Clothes singed, cuts festooning their bodies, but they were alive.

Itachi looked bored. Tragically so.

"I thought you better than your peers, so I deigned to be serious. I see now that it was a fool's decision."

Sasuke snarled. He pushed himself up on wobbly arms but eventually fell back to the dirt.

Sakura projected the idea of many bad words as hard as she could into the elder Uchiha's mind.

Itachi ignored both of them. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them they were in that dreaded star form.

"This is the Mangekyo Sharingan," the man said. "It will spell your doom. When next you wake, it will be in understanding of the might of a true Uchiha."

The man walked forward, and the two younger ninja could do nothing to stop him. Sakura cursed, while Sasuke yelled as hard as he could into the dirt. Both were meaningless, however. They had lost.

Itachi was just a few steps away from them when something crashed into the ground between them. The dust cleared quickly this time, and out stepped someone who they were almost excited to see.

"Almost" because they were equally terrified.

"Hi," Naruto said. He cracked his neck as he looked around. Wonton destruction littered the street, and both buildings and trees were on fire.

This was the status quo for areas where Naruto tread, however, so the orange boy nodded his head and turned to his friends.

"How are you?" he asked. Sakura opened her mouth, then closed it. She brought up a hand to maybe gesture at the gravity of the situation, froze, then let that hand fall. She conjured a picture of death and decay and rot and pestilence and made it all in the image of the cloak wearing man behind him, and still it wasn't enough.

So instead Sakura gave up. "Hey," she responded. "I'm doing alright. Bit banged up. How are you?"

"I'm doing alright," the boy responded. He had either not picked up on her sarcasm or didn't care for it. "Bit of a long day. Having fun?"

Sakura was going to ask a question. Multiple questions. Questions such as, " _how could I possibly be having fun?_ " or, " _Do you not sense the overwhelming aura behind you?_ "

Both of those questions were answered, however, by the simple fact of, " _this is Naruto._ " So Sakura never uttered such words. Instead, she simply nodded, and the blond monster nodded back.

Sasuke yelled his impotent rage into the dirt.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Itachi intoned. It was bland and monotone, but it somehow carried in it an undertone of violence. Naruto missed it completely. He turned, saw the same clothing as that other miscreant he handled, and frowned.

"Who are you?" the boy asked. Itachi opened his mouth to answer, but a girl running up answered it for him.

"Naruto!" Tenten yelled. She let Samehada collapse tip-first into the dirt before putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "Don't go so fast! Normal people can't catch up with— Itachi Uchiha." The girl's eyes went wide. She looked from the rogue ninja, to Naruto, and back again. She looked around at the destruction, then to two almost lifeless bodies, and then back to the red eyed man.

She stared him in the eyes fearlessly as she spoke. "Did you do all of this?"

Itachi nodded.

The girl then looked to Naruto. "Hey, uh, buddy?"

Naruto acknowledged her.

"You didn't take a good look around here yet, didja?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Great. Uh, I'm gonna go. I got, uh, stuff to do. Would you mind not looking at anything else until I'm… uh… Very, very, _very_ far away?"

Naruto felt the request was odd, but he acquiesced.

"Great!" Tenten chirped. She scooped Samehada out of the dirt, ran over to give Naruto a quick kiss on the cheek, and then bolted. "You're the best!" she called as she disappeared into the distance.

"That was weird," Sasuke said around the dirt his face was still buried in. "Wanna see what was up with her, Sakura?"

"Already reading her mind," the psychic responded. She went quiet for a few seconds, eyes closed as she focused on the quickly retreating ninja.

She then went very, very pale. Sakura's eyes snapped open, then over to one unconscious girl, then another. One had violet hair and was very out of it. The other had pale blond hair and was in visible pain.

Sakura felt her mortality. She looked to Naruto, who seemed intent on not looking at anything at all, then trembled.

"Sasuke."

"Hm?"

"We have to go."

The boy actually pushed himself out of the dirt. "What?" he asked, enraged. "I can't! I can't just leave that bastard alive!"

"Sasuke, I need you to think of the bigger picture." Sakura said carefully. "Look who's on the ground, right now."

"I don't care who's out!" Sasuke snarled. "I need reven—"

Sakura _shoved_ the fleeing kunoichi's thoughts into Sasuke's brain.

"— we need to go." Sasuke backpedaled. He allowed Sakura to pull him up before addressing Naruto. "Uh, buddy? We, uh… need to go. That cool?"

"Sure."

"Cool. Sakura, let's go."

And the two young ninjas disappeared via Sakura's psionic powers. Itachi watched as they floated away. He raised a hand to stop them but was blocked by Naruto. The boy had simply _appeared_ in front of the Uchiha scion and threw a punch. Itachi was caught off guard, but he managed to bend out of the way regardless.

"I have no business with you right now, Jinchuuriki." Itachi said. "Move and your life will be spared."

Naruto didn't respond. He stared at the man, with his weird swirly eyes, and shrugged. The fox, however, didn't share the boy's indifference.

" _ **Detestable Sharingan!**_ " the beast roared. " **I will wipe their accursed line from this world!** "

"They have something to do. It would be rude to interrupt them." Naruto said to the Uchiha. He tried to ignore the Fox roaring in his mind, but found it very hard to. He then cleared his ears. The fox _really_ hated Uchihas.

" **Boy, let me lend you my power, just this once. We must erase all traces of this mongrel from the face of this earth!** "

"But me taking your power would destroy the village too."

" **I don't see the problem**."

"I like it here. It's interesting."

Itachi didn't comment on the boy, or his random mumblings. Instead, he gestured around himself and grunted. "Don't you know who I am, or what I've done? Look around you and see my handiwork."

Naruto did so. He noted the broken buildings and fallen ninja. "I know what you are. You're a hoodlum, with nothing better to do than cause trouble. I won't let you disturb any more people."

Itachi had to take a second to devour that information. When he finally did, he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He hadn't found the proper words to say.

"Listen," Naruto started. "I don't really feel like fighting right now. We could make things a lot easier for everyone involved if you just…"

Naruto's eyes fell on Hinata, half buried under rubble and very unconscious. His fist clenched, and hitherto long forgotten emotions ran through his being. Naruto squashed it as best he could, but he couldn't keep the anger out of his voice. The death of Nekomata annoyed him. This? This was something else.

"… if you would just _leave, now_. We won't have to—"

Naruto's eyes fell on the spasming body of Aiko Yamanaka.

The very ground _cracked_ as power unrelenting poured from Naruto's very being. The blond saw red as he zeroed in on the one responsible.

The Kyuubi cackled as he felt his chakra being called upon.


	18. Chapter 18: The One Hit Ninja

_**So here we are. Final chapter. Before you read, there are some things that should be noted:**_

 _ **1) This is the last chapter of One Hit Ninja, but it is not the last you'll see of this story. This chapter of it is over, but the overarching enemies are still there.**_

 _ **2) The next installment of this series will likely be... quite a while away. I (hopefully) have a job coming up. Combined with school leaves me with very little time to write. If I were being paid to write it would be a different story, but I'm not.**_

 _ **But I'm very open to any and all proposals for that though. Seriously. Any thing you throw my way would be appreciated.**_

 _ **3) I have my own blog now with original (and some fanfiction) stories posted there. If enough people are interested, I can send out the link.  
**_

 _ **4) I have now. While not required, if you want to support me I would be more than happy to show my appreciation. I'm not sure what that is quite yet, probably a five-hundred mini-chapter of a subject of your choosing. The link for that will only be on my blog, though.**_

 _ **Thank you all again for your support all these years. I'll likely be back eventually. Probably before the year is over. But this is it for now. I love you all, and for the few of you who will choose to follow my new blog, I'll likely be interacting with you there.**_

 _ **Or a discord. I can make that too if you guys REALLY wanna keep in touch with me.**_

* * *

One Hit Ninja

Chapter Final:

The One Hit Ninja

Itachi flipped through hand seals so quickly that even his own Sharingan saw his hands as a blur. He ended in a horse seal just before taking breath so deep that his chest bulged outwards, becoming visible even on the outside of his baggy Akatsuki cloak.

" **Fire Release: Great Destroyer Flame!** " Itachi released his breath, but instead of air a stream of fire beat onto the ground. The instant it touched it, however, the fire exploded to a width that spanned several blocks of the Konoha thoroughfare. It burnt and demolished all in its path, before eventually fizzling out almost a mile away from the young man.

Itachi sincerely hoped that everyone had already evacuated.

He kept up the technique for just a few seconds— it was chakra intensive and only really suitable for use by the one who created it: Madara Uchiha. Still, nothing else had worked thus far. Itachi _really_ needed something to work.

As the fire dissipated only scorched earth and the barest remains of house foundations remained. Fire flickered in dusty crevices and heat shimmers distorted the air. This part of Konoha would likely be evacuated for quite some time before anyone found a way to use it again.

And yet, somehow, Itachi knew that it wasn't enough.

His eyes quivered, quite unsure as to what they were seeing. From the ashes of the world came the Orange Nightmare. His clothes were singed, his skin patterned black with soot. But he was fine. No substantial damage had been incurred. If anything, the boy only seemed angrier.

Naruto didn't waste any time. His knees bent, and the world cried as he rocketed from his place several meters away from the Uchiha. Itachi didn't waste any time thinking about it, either. Last time he took a second to _think_ in this fight he almost lost his head. No, the rogue Uchiha dodged to the side.

The orange warhead blitzed past him. The earth broke apart where he passed. Itachi grunted as the mere act of the boy missing created a shockwave that hit him like a train. Every nerve in his body screamed as he was battered away, and it was only years of training that allowed him to instinctually roll to absorb the momentum of the blow.

When he finally came to a stop he was several broken bones more wary. Red eyes cautiously looked to follow the blond.

Dull blue eyes stared back. Naruto stood at the end of a crater created by him. The devastation continued deep into the bedrock below in a straight line from where the boy started his attack to where he currently stood.

Itachi gaped. It was all he could do.

"Wh-what are you?" the man asked.

Naruto didn't bother with an answer. If he had, Itachi wasn't fast enough to catch it. The boy blurred from existence once again, and it was all Itachi could do to dodge the haymaker that almost smacked into his chest. The shockwave of that punch was much smaller, but it continued well past where his fist stopped.

 _I can't get hit, and I can't stay in the path of his punches either_ , Itachi thought. His Sharingan tracked every minute twitch of the boy's muscles. From that alone he predicted what Naruto was going to do next. It was that knowledge, and only that knowledge, that allowed him to dodge the next swing.

Itachi ducked this time. Naruto's swing went high. The shockwave carried on and broke off the top of the Hokage Monument. Itachi didn't bother to look back to gauge the damage. Every attack was lethal.

On Naruto's end things weren't as complicated. Where Itachi ducked and moved like a leaf in the wind, he held no such fancy inclination. Swing with left, straight with right. Attacks came simply and telegraphed, but with all the speed of a bullet. It was all Itachi could do to maintain the dance that spared his life.

Of course, the elder Uchiha retaliated. Jabs were returned in the spaces between Naruto's deadly strikes. Nothing ever mattered, however. The boy took the strikes as if they weren't even connecting, and soon enough Itachi had abandoned the endeavor. He focused on staying alive under the barrage of attacks that didn't slow even after a straight minute of throwing them.

Eventually the strain of constantly moving and predicting got to the young man. Itachi faltered, for just a second, and Naruto's punch connected with his chest. Instead of being blown into countless pieces of gore and viscera, however, the Uchiha exploded into crows.

Naruto watched them as they flapped their wings and cawed, most likely in an attempt to disorient him. He then reached forward, seemingly into thin air, and grabbed at nothing. The space he grabbed, which seemed to be empty, cracked under his hold. The blond then proceeded to squeeze, and reality itself seemed to fold. Eventually the world broke and fell away, and what remained was another world where Itachi was once again launching large amounts of flame at him.

Naruto stared as the fireballs rushed towards him. He didn't know any jutsu, but he knew how to punch things.

So he did.

 **Serious Series: Serious Punch**.

XxX

Sasuke stumbled as the world shook. This was the third time that such a thing happened in the last five minutes, and each time it did Sasuke had to brace himself on all fours in an attempt to stay upright.

He hadn't succeeded the other times either.

Sakura at least had the ability to float, however shaky her psionic flight was at the moment. She wobbled in the air with each earthquake that shook the village, but she too fell to the ground when the gusts of air blew through the streets.

It seemed that Naruto was finally getting serious.

It was a terrifying thought.

"Having any luck waking them up?" Sasuke asked. Before him stood Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. They were both carrying a girl, Hinata and Aiko respectively, and they were both trying their level hardest to awaken the two girls.

They weren't having the best of luck.

"I don't understand how the hell they could remain asleep through all of this!" Kiba yelled. Houses crumbled under the ambient damage that was radiating outwards from the legendary fight happening in the middle of the village. Luckily everyone had already been evacuated towards the edges of the village, but from the way things were going, the entire village would have to be abandoned.

"I don't know about Hinata, but the Yamanaka was put under a Sharingan genjutsu. It's going to take a lot more than this to break her out of it." Sasuke walked over to the blond, enduring the minor quakes all the while. He pried open her eyes and stared into them. He tried activating his Sharingan to see into her soul, but the girl was too far gone. His Sharingan wasn't strong enough to pierce through to where she had retreated into.

"It's no use," he said, a deep frown joining his furrowed brow. "I can't undo the damage."

"Well, you're going to have to try!" Kiba snarled. "They're the only ones who can stop Naruto right now! If we don't stop him, he's going to destroy the whole village!"

"I don't see you doing anything productive!" Sasuke yelled back. "Unless you think that screaming in the poor girl's ear any more is going to do it!"

Throughout their arguments Shino turned to Sakura, something that the pink haired psychic immediately took note of. The two locked eyes, and an entire conversation took place in the span of three seconds. He shuffled the blue haired girl over to her and waited.

Sakura looked at the Hyuuga heiress. Face set into a grim determination, the psychic stared until she found something useful. With a nod, the Haruno allowed her psychic powers to activate once more. Her eyes went aglow with her ability, and her hair rose on the bed of her psionics.

Slowly, Sakura raised her hand.

When she brought it back down, there was a resounding _smack_ that rang through the area. Everyone looked on in awe as Sakura repeatedly slapped her fellow kunoichi.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" Sakura chanted. "Wake up, wake up!"

"I… thought you were going to use your psychic powers…" Shino said quietly. Sakura spared him a second's consideration before going back to her assault.

"I _am_ using my psychic powers," she responded. "I couldn't smack her hard enough without them. Wake _the fuck_ up!"

This slapping continued for several more seconds before a calloused hand rose to stop her. Hinata was awake, and judging from the glare on her active Byakugan, she wasn't happy.

"I cannot properly express in words how infuriated I am right now."

"Oh good," Sakura said, either unaware or uncaring of the Hyuuga's bad mood. "Now that you're up, you can stop Naruto."

"I will turn your insides to paste."

"And while you're at it, see if you can get him to help fix the village?"

"I will use your hair to knit myself some nice pink gloves to use while I bury your body."

"Oh, can you wake up the Yamanaka too?"

"No one will find your unmarked grave."

"Excellent. While you do that, I'll try to limit the casualties." And like that, Sakura was off, floating on a wave of her own psychic power.

Hinata didn't even blink. She stumbled over to the Yamanaka and started analyzing her. Sasuke, Kiba and Shino stared at one another before shrugging.

They wouldn't question the logic of girls.

XxX

Itachi felt something inside of him break. The pain was sharp and obvious, blossoming somewhere in his chest, before creeping outwards like rainwater through cracks in the pavement. Naruto had landed a hit on him, had kept moving despite the genjutsu, and successfully backhanded him through a building.

The building collapsed around him and a hastily applied Substitution had him switch with a rock. He was out of danger from the broken house, but he was immediately in danger to something far worse.

Itachi bent backwards, and a rock— barely a pebble— zipped past where his head was. It continued to pierce everything in its path before breaking somewhere far off in the distance. That pebble was the only warning that Naruto gave before continuing their dance, and Itachi didn't bother to waste it. He was already flowing around a barrage of attacks that destroyed the very landscape with each "miss."

"Death is too good for you," Naruto said. His words weren't fevered or rushed. He spoke with a calm temperance that betrayed the ferocity of his blows. "Stop moving so I can kill you."

Itachi turned, keeping his eye on the boy. The Uzumaki's punch went far, and the ground behind him crumbled.

"I don't think I'll do that." Itachi then brought his hands together. He attempted to use a jutsu, but the boy didn't seem to want to allow him that luxury anymore. A flash in those blue eyes was all of the warning that he got before Naruto seemed to blur.

To blur to the eyes of the Sharingan was an impressive, and frightening, feat.

From the moment that the boy moved, Itachi knew that something was horribly wrong. The entire fight, from the very beginning, the boy seemed to be moving awkwardly. He never moved with much grace. No, his form was sloppy, and his moves were wasteful. But even then, something about his movements always seemed… stiff.

Itachi knew now that the boy was holding back.

A flurry of blows, so fast as to seem simultaneous, rained down on the Uchiha. His Sharingan registered them, but there was nothing that Itachi could do to stop them. He moved his legs, his arms, hell, he moved his eyelids, but nothing seemed to be enough.

The boy would eliminate him from the face of the earth, leaving not even a splattered smear to note his passing.

As the barrage of blows reached ever so nearer, there was only one thing that came to the poor Uchiha's mind.

 **Death**

XxX

Sasuke wasn't sure what Hinata Hyuuga did to the girl, but whatever it was involved a lot of staring, and even more ability enhanced slaps. He was sure that whatever it was that the girls were so fond of doing was, in fact, _not_ a medical surety.

But the fact that it kept working meant that he couldn't call them out on it.

The Yamanaka's hand shot out and gripped Hinata's wrist before it could slap her with a Gentle Fist slap. Her eyes were droopy and her chest heaved with every breath, but she was awake.

"My mind was stuck in a trauma and chakra induced coma, and I could still feel your slaps," the blond said. Her eyes, as half-lidded as they were, managed to level a fierce glare on the Hyuuga. "I hope you know that this means death for you."

Whether Hinata gave no merit to the threats or simply did not care, she spoke her next words with a cheerful exuberance. "Oh good, you're up. I need your help in calming down Naruto."

"What?" Aiko asked. "Why is he upset?"

"He thought we were dead."

"He thought we were _what_?"

Sasuke cut in. "Yeah, this is nice and all, but there is currently a warhead _destroying our city_ and we need nothing less than the combined power of the two of you to stop it. So, if you could stop the banter and _save us_ that would be nice."

Sasuke's sarcasm was thick enough to be cut by a kunai, and he regretted using none of it. Still, the glare he received from both girls was downright venomous. He endured it for a few seconds without faltering, and the girls eventually relented. They turned from him with a huff and stared out towards where the wonton destruction was taking place.

"Well, it seems like we have to save the world… again."

"I always knew Little Naruto would be the death of me."

And the two were off, blurring away with the speed of a kunoichi. Sasuke watched them go.

Then he turned. He made his way towards the edge of the village where he knew that a hotel would be open. The owner was a mean money-mongerer and would take every chance to earn another buck.

He would take Sasuke's money and give him the rest he deserved.

XxX

Naruto was furious. It was a burning thing that consumed every inch of his body. It moved his fists to destroy, never mind the consequences, and he felt all too happy to oblige.

The earth crumbled, houses collapsed, and the sky was rent asunder with every attack that landed. And every attack landed, even if not on the delinquent in front of him. The terrain changed with every punch, forcing the Uchiha to constantly change his tactics on the fly.

And in the end, it still wasn't enough. The man somehow evaded all of his attacks and countered. His attacks were little more than butterfly kisses, but they were annoying nonetheless. Eventually Naruto got fed up and switched to being serious.

The Uchiha wasn't prepared. He was caught off guard and would finally die.

Then something happened. Purple chakra exploded from him, forming a literal giant suit of armor. It covered the man like some kind of giant mech, stopping Naruto's punch dead.

The armor cracked where his fist connected, but it was the fact that it survived that broke Naruto out of his frenzy.

"What?" Naruto asked. He pushed against the armor, but it continued to resist his fist.

"Th-this is **Susanoo** ," Itachi said around desperate gasps of breath. Dark red, nearly black blood flowed from his eyes. "This is the Mangekyo Sharingan's ultimate technique. You can't break through."

Naruto wasn't so sure about that. Though the cracks in the armor were starting to mend, he was sure he could break it again. After finding purchase on the ground, he reared his fist back once more.

Itachi, apparently, didn't like that idea. Faster than he could blink, the Susanoo forged a spectral sword and swiped at him. Naruto's arm pivoted from cocked back to a block, and the sword hit him with all the force of a train. He was sent careening through several buildings, before finally coming to rest almost half a mile away.

Naruto pushed the debris off and stood. His clothing was ruined, but that was nothing new.

" **Boy** ," the Fox growled. His voice was rough and curt, showing the irritation that was building the entire fight. " **Take my power. The bastard needs to be destroyed.** "

"I can take care of that perfectly fine by myself."

" **You can** ," the Fox said. " **But you aren't. Just take my power and be done with the blight**."

"In his eyes, _you're_ probably the blight."

" **Well,** _ **he's**_ **not the one on your side.** "

"And you are?"

The Fox remained silent.

" **I'm not against you** ," he finally said. " **That must count for something**."

Naruto didn't reply. His knees bent. When they straightened, he was propelling through the air.

XxX

Itachi was not having a good day. The boy had broken his Susanoo— something that had never been done before. He had to break it out or die, and the strain on his eyes was almost too much. Still, it was necessary. He pulled himself and his construct out of the divot that the Uzumaki had punted him into, then looked around.

It was quiet. Far too quiet for a battlefield housing a living catastrophe. Itachi had maybe three more seconds of thought before the world exploded again.

An armored hand raised and caught the flying kick of the blond menace. The Susanoo arm cracked and broke, but most of the momentum of the attack had been absorbed. The boy landed the construct's shoulder and stared into the skeleton warrior's glowing eyes. He cocked a fist back.

Itachi wasn't letting another of those go off. His right eye bled, and black fire erupted on the boy's am.

Naruto didn't even look at it. He tore off the arm of his jacket and tossed it away. The sleeve burned to dust on the ground, but that was the extent of the damage from his attack. Still, it allowed a moment of hesitation, and in that moment Itachi brought his sword down on the boy once more. Naruto was cleaved into the ground, and for a moment Itachi dared to hope.

That hope died when his sword was slowly pushed from the crevice he had buried it in.

"Is this all you've got?" Naruto asked. "Because if it is, you are disappointing."

Itachi cursed underneath his breath. He taxed his already waning chakra reserves and reformed his Susanoo's arm. Now with two, he managed to push the sword down a bit more.

That progress was immediately nullified. Naruto didn't even bother to use another hand. He just used the one to continue to push his way out of the crevice.

"What are you?" Itachi screamed, his voice strained with the effort of trying to keep the boy down. Naruto turned his attention from the blade that even now couldn't pierce the skin of his hand, to the overworked Uchiha staring at him from within the translucent suit of armor.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said. He squeezed, ever so slightly, and the blade in his hand broke into shards. The shock of it overtaxed Itachi's already bleeding eyes, and the young man collapsed to the ground, his chakra fading around him.

The rogue Uchiha tried to return to his feet, but the fatigue had finally caught up to him. His arms gave out, sending him face first into the dirt.

Naruto stopped right before him. His face was as impassive as a blank wall. "It's over."

The Uchiha wondered if it was too late to mention that they were on the same side.

"You killed my friends."

Well, knocked out one and put the other in a genjutsu. Both were terrible choices on his part, but not nearly as bad as death. Still, he supposed that the boy didn't know that.

Naruto raised his arm, and Itachi could feel the death emanating from it.

"I'll try to make this quick."

Itachi could tell that he probably wouldn't feel a thing. Still, he closed his eyes. He was meant to die by Sasuke's hands but dying to a superior opponent wasn't a bad ending for a ninja either.

He heard the displacement of air as the boy's fist swung down on him. He prepared himself for death, but it surprisingly didn't come.

The earth was kicked up and gusts of wind almost blew him away. He opened his eyes to see the nightmare boy with his fist outstretched. His eyes were wide, however, as he stared down the blue haired girl that stood between them.

"H-Hinata?" he asked, and his voice was very clearly in awe. He took a look at his fist, then quickly retracted it as if it were the vilest of weapons.

"Yes, it's me, Naruto." Hinata spoke with a calm voice. She looked the monster in his eyes as she spoke. "I'm not dead."

Naruto trembled. His hand reached forward and cupped the Hyuuga's cheek. The girl put her hand over his, and the smile she gave as she leaned into the boy's touch was nothing short of angelic.

"Yes, I'm alive. You can stop destroying the village now."

From the look in Naruto's eyes, it almost worked. The impassive stare that hid so much rage under the surface had melted away to a tiny, almost imperceptible smile. He looked like he so desperately wanted to just hold her and walk away. Something popped up in his mind, however, as if something was whispering into his ear, and that rage was back.

He snarled, and his hand tore away from Hinata's cheek and shoved her aside. Hinata, being a ninja, didn't mind the roughhousing. She was confused by it though, if the frown was anything to go by.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She stepped in front again, and this time Naruto didn't move her.

"He killed Aiko."

The sheer rage on the boy's face seriously had Itachi considering just spilling the secret.

"Tch," Hinata sucked her teeth. "And?"

"She's my friend."

"So am I."

Those words seemed to spark something in Naruto. "Y-you are?"

And once again, the Hyuuga was confused. She looked to Naruto rubbed the boy's head as if he were a particularly slow puppy. "What? Of course I am. What kind of question is that?"

Naruto didn't say anything. His mouth hung open, but that's it.

"If anything, we're best friends. We used to spend every day together, didn't we?"

Naruto, once again, didn't say anything.

The girl huffed, then took the boy's hand. "We're best friends. Okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Okay."

"So let's go."

"But… Aiko."

The Hyuuga huffed again. She puffed out her cheeks like an adorable balloon and turned away. "Not that it _means_ anything, but she's fine too."

Itachi could see the change happen.

XxX

It was like ice water was poured down his back. It quelled the raging fires and stemmed his anger. A certain shine returned to his eyes, and it was like an oppressive aura had dissipated. The birds had started to chirp once more in their far-off groves and the sun seemed to shine brighter.

"She's… okay?"

Hinata didn't look too happy at his relief, but she nodded anyway. "Yes. The Yamanaka is fine. The only reason she isn't here is because she just got out her coma and couldn't run as fast without being dizzy."

"Out of her what now?" Naruto asked. The oppressive aura was back, and the rogue Uchiha had tried his best to bury himself.

"Doesn't matter," Hinata replied. There was enough collateral damage. "She's fine, we're leaving. Let's go."

Not one to be needed to be told things twice, the boy followed his blue-haired friend faithfully.

"Wait," Itachi muttered. He had pulled himself up from the ground. He was posted on one knee and panting, but he was up. "That's it? You're done?"

Naruto turned around. He tilted his head and frowned. "Yeah. You didn't kill them so I guess it's okay. Don't cause any more trouble, okay?"

Itachi looked around. Destruction and decay littered every waking mile. Most of the demolition was from the boy in front of him, but Itachi didn't have guts to bring that up.

"O-okay," he said. "Then I'll just be… going now?"

Naruto nodded. He moved to turn around and leave the man.

Then a knife plunged through the Uchiha's chest.

" _My my_ …" The voice drawled. It was a smooth timbre but entirely too smug. The words were pulled out long and taunting. " _Looks like little Itachi couldn't quite pull off his job_."

Something in Naruto froze. Chills ran up his spine in a way that had never happened before. Deep within him, in the part where his demon lay, something wicked and primal burned.

" **This voice** ," the Fox said, its voice low and menacing. There was steel there, akin to a carefully honed blade, that told Naruto that the Fox was just a moment away from tearing away at all in its path. " **I know this voice**. **I** _ **know**_ **this chakra! It is the tainted chakra of that Uchiha!** _ **It is the pupil of that man!**_ "

Naruto's fists clenched. Anger that was not his own was pumping adrenaline into his body. He tried to hold back the emotions, but the Fox was feeling them all too strongly.

" _ **That man! He is the one, boy! He is the one we must kill!**_ "

"Calm down," Naruto muttered through grit teeth. He was strong enough to resist the chakra, but it was a labor when the Fox was this adamant. "We'll get him."

Meanwhile the two Uchiha were in a standoff. Itachi was far too tired to the masked man, but he refused to go down. "I always knew that you would betray me," Itachi said around the blood dripping from his mouth. "Dirty… traitor…"

The man chuckled, his spiral orange mask jostling with every move he made. "I would be a fool not to, Itachi. There aren't many who could oppose me, so it would only make sense that I dispose of the ones who could. No hard feelings, right?"

And without any posturing he used his foot to kick the exhausted Uchiha off of the black metal rod he shoved through his chest. Itachi fell in a crumpled heap to the floor, but not without shooting one last glare at the man behind him. A flash of red, and then black, and the Uchiha scion's eyes slowly drifted shut.

"So much potential," the masked man drawled. "Wasted in loyalty to such a disgusting village. Honestly, I'm glad about what you've done remodeling. ' _Destroyed_ ' is such a good look for the Hidden Leaf."

Naruto felt a spark of his own anger rise in his gut, but he held himself back. Hinata, however, didn't have that reluctance.

"Who are you?" the Hyuuga asked. The veins around her eyes bulged as she stared down the man in front of them. "What do you want?"

The man gasped and clutched at the black robe over where his heart would be. "Such venom from such a cute little princess. Almost makes me want to _pluck your eyes right out_."

Naruto didn't even blink. His hand shot out and caught the masked man's wrist. Hinata, not having seen the man move, stumbled backwards before tripping on her own feet. She scuttled back still before leaping back to her feet.

Naruto, however, hadn't moved. His hand squeezed on the masked man's wrist hard enough to crush diamonds, but the man didn't relent. He just stared into Naruto's eyes using his own red one that peeked through a hole in the spiral.

"My my," the man drawled. "Fast, aren't we?"

Naruto didn't respond. He started to squeeze harder.

"But are you fast enough?" the man asked. Though Naruto couldn't see it, he felt the man's sneer. The man casually pulled his hand out of Naruto's grip, his skin phasing through Naruto's own, before turning around. "You've saved your blue haired friend, and kudos to you on that, but have you saved your fellow blond?"

The dam burst. It didn't take a genius to figure out who the masked man was talking about. Vicious red chakra burst from the boy, flaring up like unholy golden flame.

" _ **WHERE IS AIKO?**_ "

XxX

If words alone could cow a person, that would be the quality of Naruto's voice. The people across all of the Land of Fire found an unspeakable pressure weighing down on them, forcing them to their knees.

"W-what?" Sasuke gasped. It was hard to even breathe.

Across from him, the other people in the hotel were either unconscious or well on their way.

XxX

The ground buckled underneath him, but he hadn't cared. Behind him Hinata was trying desperately to stay awake. From the looks of things, she was losing that battle.

The man in front of him— Tobi, if the Fox was correct— didn't seem to be affected at all, however. He stood, spine straight, as he stared down the embodiment of the apocalypse.

"Tsk tsk," he tutted, his playful demeanor still present. "That is for a later time!"

" _ **NO.**_ " Naruto snarled. " _ **IT IS FOR RIGHT NOW**_." And like that the boy was on him. A golden fist moved almost instantly through the air, igniting it before impacting Tobi's masked face. Like before, however, the man seemed to phase through it. The punch went wide…

… and everything in the way of it for several miles _ceased to exist._

"Nuh uh!" Tobi chanted. "Your punches won't work on me!" He then proved his point by walking through Naruto, body and all. Naruto tried to grab at him, he did, but everything was ineffectual. "Even with the Nine-Tails' chakra, you're just throwing punches." He gestured out towards the destroyed village. "Devastating, to be sure, but not good enough. You're going to need to be _so much stronger_ if you want to protect yourself from what _I_ have coming for you!"

The man then bowed, to both Naruto's and the Fox's great anger.

"And you're going to have to be stronger if you want to get your little friend back. _Caio_ for now, Little Naruto! And I'll see you in the next story of our lives!"

A vortex started to swirl, centering on the man's exposed eye. His body started to be sucked into it and Naruto, never one to let an opportunity slip away, threw a claw of chakra from the cloak that surrounded his body. It reached most of the way before being swatted away.

"I'm afraid not…" a gravelly voice said. "Your opponent is us."

"Oi, Oi! How much do you think his bounty is?"

Between Naruto and the masked man stood two more people in black and red cloaks. One was a hunchback with what seemed to be a plated tail coming from his back. The other seemed to have been stitched together with string.

"We'll meet again, Little Naruto!" the masked man chanted gleefully. "We'll meet again!"

And like that he was gone. The Fox _roared_.

" _ **NO. HE CANNOT ESCAPE**_!"

But he already had. They both knew it. Naruto felt like crying. He couldn't follow the man through whatever portal he had escaped through. For the first time in a long time, he was powerless to do something.

A needle evaporated in the cloak of his corrosive chakra. Naruto looked up to see the hunchback with his hand extended.

"Did you forget about us?"

Naruto felt a wicked smile grow across his face.

"No," he said calmly. "I hadn't."

XxX

Sasuke wasn't sure what he was expecting when he came to Ground Zero of the fight. He was expecting carnage, blood and lots of dead Uchiha bits.

There was semi-dead Uchiha bleeding out near a crater, but the bits of person scattered around didn't belong to him. No, the bits of person seemed to be… almost doll-like?

"What… happened here?" the younger Uchiha asked. He carefully stepped over the surprisingly realistic parts to make it closer to where he saw the fading embers of a golden flame. He stopped just a few meters away from the boy and waited in silence for the flames to die out.

Never did it occur to him to ask what that ability was.

"I've never went out of my way to cause trouble," he said. Near his feet were the remains of two bodies. One was broken to pieces like many of the other dolls spread haphazardly around the place, but in its chest was a bloody mass of viscera. The other body seemed to be strips of unzipped skin. "I caused trouble, but never to anyone important. I always tried to be neutral."

Naruto turned, and Sasuke felt his heart clench when he saw the wetness in the boy's eyes.

"Why did they take her?"

Sasuke opened his mouth, but he found that he didn't have the right words to say. His jaw shut, and by the time he found the energy to open it again several minutes had passed.

"Naruto…" he started.

"Because they were monsters," Sakura said. She floated into the clearing with a 2x4 trapped in the throes of her psionics. "They're maniacs and insane criminals who want nothing but to watch the world burn." The psychic gestured around her. "If this isn't enough to show you how deranged they are, I'm not sure what more you need."

"They're not the kind to need reason," Hinata said. She walked up behind Naruto and before he could react, she wrapped her arms around the boy. "They do because they can, and no other reason."

"They're right bastards, if you ask me," Kiba snarled. Beside him, propping the real one onto his shoulder, was the Beast Mimicry Clone. The Kiba clone barked their assent.

"But their reasoning doesn't matter." Sasuke said. "What matters is what we do from now on. We have taken—" Hinata punched Sasuke in the shoulder. He winced and continued. "— _you_ have taken down a monster today. That's a cause for celebration. And if you could do it once, you can do it again."

"And if you think Aiko's gonna die you're wrong!" Kiba yelled. "They're using her as bait. All we have to do is get stronger, hunt them down, and break her out, yeah?"

Naruto seemed to relax ever so slightly. He held out his arms, and it was apparent he was expecting the group hug.

The ones that weren't already hugging him suddenly seemed apprehensive.

"Uh… I gotta go back to fixing the village."

"I gotta get to the… vet…"

"My mom is calling me."

Their excuses were useless, however. Naruto was far too fast for them to escape. He caught them all and brought them into a hug before they could even blink.

They were, of course, wary of being hugged by a person who could single-handedly demolish the village, but after several seconds of them _not_ being squished to death they calmed. Eventually they even started to hug back, and soon they were all hugging each other in silence.

It was a beautiful, heart-warming moment.

Then the Hokage walked in.

" _ **What have you done to my village**_?"

And then it was a heart-stopping moment.


End file.
